The Next Step
by Punch Drunk Marc
Summary: "Where do we go now? I just got you back, please don't do anything too reckless." Sequel to "Promise" & "Warmed Blade" (I recommend reading those 1st). NaZa story. Some "Gruvia" (Gray X Juvia) & "GaLe" (Gajeel X Levy).
1. The Job

**I do not own Fairy Tail or any of it's characters, they are a property of Hiro Mashima & his publishers.**

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POW! the sound echoed through the guild hall as everyone began to roar with laughter

Natsu lifted his head from the table slowly, rubbing it as it throbbed with agony. He looked up at Erza with his eyes misty from the pain.

"Owww! What was that for Erza?"

"You're too messy when you eat. Look at what you did to the table."

Natsu continued rubbing his head as he looked at the table where they were sitting.

Chunks of food were strewn across it, most of it on Gray & Lucy, who sat opposite Natsu & Erza. He looked at his friends confused as he put another piece of meat in his mouth.

"Mwhat happemmd to yu guys?" He asked as the food muffled his speech.

"You happened you idiot." Gray said irritably as he wiped the chunks off of himself.

"Geez Natsu, why do you always have to go so overboard?" Lucy added

Natsu smiled at his friends as he continued eating. "Heh heh sorry guys."

Erza simply smiled at Natsu softly and continued eating her food.

It was a usual day at Fairy Tail. Nothing too exciting was happening, but as always it was never dull. It had been a week since Natsu had been rescued by Erza & the others, and he was eager to get back to work. Erza stayed with him the whole time he was recovering and she felt that they had gotten closer, especially since they made their promise to one another. Things were back to normal and everyone was thankful for that.

Natsu walked to the job board to find something for his 1st day back. When he found one, he took it from the board and slammed it on the table, startling everyone.

Lucy jumped up from seat in anger, "Agh! Natsu what the…" she stopped when she looked at the mission he picked. Her eyes grew wide in happiness, "Does that say what I think it does?" she looked up at Natsu who nodded and smiled. She looked down at the paper once again.

"Wanted! Strong Wizards to run Dark Guild out of town. Reward: 10 million jewel!"

Lucy squealed with joy at the sight of the reward. "Just think of all the things I could get if I had that kind of money." She began to hum to herself and think of all the house wares and clothes she could buy; until Gray burst her bubble.

"I think you guys aren't seeing the big picture here." He pointed his finger at the job post, "If the reward is 10 million, which means these guys must be insanely strong."

Natsu looked at Gray, "What's your point?"

"My point is that it will take more than us 4…"

"5!" Happy chimed in as he moved from next to Erza

Gray looked at the little cat, "…Fine 5. It will take more than that to run these guys out of town, look at the location."

Natsu & Lucy looked at the paper again, "Lumina." Natsu said aloud

"Oh, isn't that one of the biggest cities in all of Fiore?" Lucy asked Gray

"Yeah, it is; which means there must be a whole bunch of these guys if they took over a town of that size."

"So? Who cares? It sounds like fun to me, right Erza?" He looked at Erza with a look of anticipation and awaited her answer.

She put down the tea cup she was drinking from and looked at her friends with a smile on her face, "Yes, it sounds like fun."

Lucy & Natsu jumped for joy at her answer as Gray sulked in disappointment, but he eventually relented. "Fine I'm in, but we need at least 4 more people. To go with us, like I said before Lumina is a huge place. We could cover more ground and get the mission done quicker."

Erza looked at him and nodded, "Agreed, I'll leave the recruitment to you 3."

Gray looked surprised, "What are you going to be doing?"

She got up from the table and looked in his eyes sternly, almost intimidating him.

"I'm…going to get a piece of cake." She said as she smiled at him

Gray almost fell out of his chair as he watched Erza walk away. "What?!"

She waved back at him and headed to the bar to order her food. "We'll leave in 3 hours, be ready by then."

"Fine." Gray looked back at Natsu & Lucy, "Do you guys have anyone in mind?"

"Yeah." We got it covered Natsu answered, "What about you?"

"I have…someone in mind." As Gray looked off to the left, Lucy caught where his gaze laid and smiled mischievously at him.

"You're going to bring Juvia aren't you?"

Gray blushed at her accusation, "Ye…Yeah so? Her water magic will make me more effective in the mission."

"Sure it will." Lucy said mockingly as she winked at him. "Come on Natsu let's go." She pulled him by his arm as he looked at Gray, confused as they walked off.

The made it to the middle of the guild hall and split up, Lucy heading towards Wendy & Carla, who were sitting with Elfman.

Natsu frantically looked around the guild for someone to invite, his eyes then stopped wandering when he saw a table on the far left of the bar. He began to walk like a man possessed.

Meanwhile, Erza sat at the bar and ate her cake. Each bite made her smile wide it was so delicious. Mira then approached her.

"So you guys are going on a job?"

"Yes, Natsu picked it out. It's just a simple clearing out of some thugs in Lumina. The reward is 10 million."

"Oh Lumina? I heard about that, I heard those guys are strong."

Erza continued to eat her cake, "It's nothing we can't handle."

"What about Natsu?"

Erza stopped eating, placed down her fork, and looked up at Mira.

"What do you mean?"

"Well he just recently recovered. Are you sure he's ready for a mission like this?"

"Natsu can take care of himself Mira. Besides…nothing will happen to him…" She then looked at Mira with a fierce look of resolve & determination, "I won't let it."

Mira could see the truth behind Erza's words and smiled at her, "You really care about him don't you?"

"We made a promise to each other, and I'm not going to break it." She then picked her fork back up and continued eating her cake; smiling with each orgasmic bite.

…

Natsu made his way to the table he spotted, and saw Gajeel sitting with Shadow Gear. Gajeel looked positively bored at the table, but Levy begged him to come so he there he sat. When he saw Natsu his attention was suddenly caught, and he looked at his fellow Dragon Slayer with anger.

"What do you want Salamander?"

Natsu looked back at him matching his intensity, "Me & the others are going on a job in Lumina, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with us."

Gajeel scoffed at Natsu and looked away from him with a cocky smirk, "Humph. Now why would I go on another mission with you?"

"The reward is 10 million jewel."

Gajeel's eyes grew wide as he stood up, shaking the table.

"Ah! Gajeel." Levy said annoyed, but Gajeel ignored her.

"10 million jewel?!"

Natsu nodded silently.

Gajeel fixed his face to match Natsu's intensity, "Well…fine, I'll go with ya."

He then looked down at Levy, who was cleaning the scattered crumbs off of her that Gajeel caused.

"Hey shrimp, you wanna come with me of what?"

Levy looked up at him confused, "What?"

"I'm going with Salamander on a mission, do you wanna come or not?"

She blushed at him and looked down at her feet.

"OH…yea, sure."

"Alright, we're in."

"Great." Natsu said smiling "We're leaving in 2 hours." Natsu walked off from the table back to his friends as Gajeel & Levy watched him walk away.

Gajeel smirked and sat back down, "That guy."

"What is it Gajeel?" Levy asked

"It's nothing."

…

Lucy approached Wendy and smiled at her. The young girl looked up at her nervously. "H…Hi Lucy." She said as she smiled.

"Hey Wendy. Me & the others are going on a mission in a few and I was wondering if you wanted to join us."

Wendy's face turned red from embarrassment, "Really? You want me to join you?" she said with surprise.

"Sure, why not?" Lucy answered her with a warm smile.

Wendy smiled back and nodded, she then looked at Carla who sat next to her sipping tea. "Can we go Carla?" she asked excitedly

"Hmm? I don't mind, I was going to tell you to find a job today anyway. You've been rather lazy as of late." The cat replied coldly as Wendy began to sulk.

"You didn't have to say it like that Carla."

Lucy giggled at the two as she smiled at them. "Well it will be good to have you two, we're leaving in a couple of hours. Be ready."

Wendy looked up at her and smiled excitedly nodding her head "Right! We will."

"Good." Lucy then turned around and went back to her table.

…

Gray walked to the bar where Juvia sat. She was talking to Cana as he appeared. He blushed slightly and looked to the ceiling and began talking to Juvia.

"So hey Juvia, my team & I are going on a job today, and I was going to ask if you wanted to go with us."

Juvia's face lit up as she looked at Cana. She turned around quickly.

"Of course I…" her face turned bright red as she looked Gray.

Gray looked at her a bit irritated, "You what? Do you wanna go or not?"

Juvia couldn't even speak, she just sat there frozen, her face red as jaw dropped.

"What's wrong with you?" Gray asked her

Cana looked up from her mug of beer. She apathetically looked at Gray as she spoke.

"Gray, your clothes."

Gray looked down and jumped like he saw a monster, he was once again in his boxers.

"How the hell did that happen? Hold on." He put his clothes back on and Juvia's face returned to normal, albeit she was still blushing.

"So, are you wanna come or not." He asked her again.

She continued to blush as she nodded, "Y...yes, I will go with you. I'll go anywhere you want me to Gray."

Gray blushed embarrassingly and scratched his head, "You didn't have to say it like that."

He then cleared his throat and continued speaking, "Well we leave in a couple of hours. So be ready."

She nodded again and answered him nervously, "Ok." She then smiled wide at him.

Gray turned around and went back his table, his face slightly red.

…

He met Natsu & the others back at the table as they began to talk about who they had invited.

"So," Erza started "Who will be joining us on our mission? Lucy?" she then looked at the blonde wizard who sat across her.

"I asked Wendy. She hasn't been here that long so I thought it would be nice to bring her with us."

"Good point. Natsu?"

"I asked Gajeel & he said he was bringing Levy with him."

"Good, we could use her skills on this job." Erza then stood up and looked at her group determined. "It looks like we're ready for this job, let's go get ready."

Natsu & Lucy stood up along with Erza as the three went to prepare, leaving Gray by himself confused.

"Wait! You guys didn't ask who I brought." As soon as he said, Happy flew past him with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Oh Gray, we all know you asked Juvia." He began laughing as Gray's face turned red, he then tried to swipe at Happy who just kept flying as the cat headed towards Natsu. Gray then sat back down irritated, "Stupid cat."

A few hours later, the group was all assembled in front of the guild hall, all of them ready to go.

Erza laid out the plan of travel. "Ok, Lumina is about 3 days from here; so we are going to take the train to Hargeon and from there it will be about a two day walk through the Tenru forest. Any questions?"

Gajeel raised his hand.

"Yes, Gajeel?" she said as she pointed to him.

"Yeah, I have a question; why the hell did you bring all that stuff?"

The rest of the group looked up to see a mountain of luggage behind Erza. It was so tall it almost blocked the sun. Erza proudly patted her haul.

"It's a three day journey of course, so I had to make sure I packed plenty of clothing and food."

Natsu's eyes widened upon hearing the "f" word, he began to drool. "You brought food Erza?"

She smiled at him, "I did, but it's only for our trek through the forest."

Natsu stepped back with a sad look on his face, "Aww man." He said sulking, "But your food is so good."

Erza blushed, she had fed Natsu before but this was the 1st time he said it was good aloud. She smiled and nervously turned around. "Al…alright, let's get going. That dark guild won't eliminate itself."

"Aye!" Natsu & Happy said energetically as the group began to move out. Natsu walking side by side with Erza as they made their way to the train station.

...

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**New story start. It's a continuation of "Promise", so it's still mainly NaZa, but I also wanted to experiment with some of the other couples like "Gruvia" & "Glevy" to see if I wanted to or even can write stories on them lol. So elements from those relationships will be in here as well. Let me know what you guys think so far. :)**


	2. The Train Ride

The group arrived at the train station and boarded. As the train begin to move, Lucy & Wendy noticed that Natsu, who sat opposite them, was lying on Erza's lap. She then leaned over to Gray, who sat next to Juvia opposite Levy & Gajeel, and whispered to him a question.

"Hey, is Natsu sleeping on Erza's lap?" she said quietly "That's so cute." She smiled, but Gray looked at her apathetically and answered her question. "No he's not take a closer look." He then pointed at Natsu.

Lucy looked back at him and saw that his eyes were completely white, devoid of pupils. She then looked nervously look up at Erza who had placed her hand on Natsu's face and was looking out of the window. She then looked at Lucy, who was still looking at her with slight fear in her eyes. "Something wrong Lucy?" she asked. Lucy then backed to her seat and waved her hands as she shook her head left and right.

"No, no. It's nothing heh heh." She laughed nervously to herself and looked back at Gray. "What happened to him?"

"Oh you must have missed it when you went to the restroom, as soon as we boarded Erza knocked him out. She said it was so he wouldn't have to deal with his motion sickness."

Lucy laughed nervously, "Oh…that's…considerate of her." She then sat back in her seat and looked at Wendy who was also looking out of the window.

Lucy placed her hand on the young girl's shoulder, as she turned around. They smiled at one another and began to talk.

"You still nervous?" Lucy asked her

"Yeah…I haven't been a job with this many people before, it's kind of overwhelming." She looked down at Carla who was resting on her lap and shifted her eyes to her feet, nervously rocking them back and forth as she sat in her seat.

Lucy reassured her, "It's ok to be nervous. I was on my 1st big mission too."

"I just hope I don't get in the way."

"Don't worry about that, you're a Fairy Tail wizard." Lucy then showed the back of her left hand where her guild mark was to Wendy, and clenched her fist tight. "We're the strongest guild in Fiore, and we don't give up." She said smiling wide.

Wendy looked up at Lucy in amazement and looked at her own mark on her shoulder, she then smiled at Lucy and nodded. "You're right, thanks Lucy."

"Don't worry about it."

Wendy then looked over to Natsu, whose head was still lying in Erza's lap. She then looked at Lucy and with a confused look on her face asked: "Is Natsu sleeping?"

A panicked look washed over Lucy's face. She then nervously looked at Wendy and nodded. "Ye…Yea Natsu's just taking a nap. Heh heh." She continued to laugh nervously as Wendy looked at her quizzically, she then returned to looking out of the window as Lucy sigh in relief.

On the other side of the train, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, & Levy sat across from one another in an uncomfortable silence. Juvia sat next to Gray, her face blood red as she blushed. Her heart pounded in her chest with incredible speed.

_Gray asked me to come on this mission with him, what does this mean? Does he want me to…?_

She began to move closer to him without realizing it, before she knew it her chest was lying on his arm. Noticing the added weight on himself Gray looked down at Juvia. "You need something?" he asked her slightly irritated. Juvia instantly noticed what was going on and her face grew red again, and she violently shook her head back and forth.

"Well then do you mind? You're kinda close." He said with an annoyed & confused look on his face

Juvia then slowly back away and returned to the space she was originally in and sulked slightly, "I…I apologize."

Opposite of them Levy continued to look at Gajeel as he stared out of the window. He caught her glance and looked at her. "What? You want something?" He asked in his usual annoyed tone. Levy blushed even more as she began to speak "Umm…well…I…" she was struggling to get the words out.

"Spit it out already." he said his voice growing more agitated

"Well…I wanted to ask, why did you ask me to come with you?"

Gajeel looked at her for a second and then returned his gaze to the scenery passing by outside. "I don't know, you looked bored. Try not to make a big deal out of it."

Levy's blush faded as a sad look began to gain hold of her face, but she knew she wouldn't expect a different answer out of him. She then looked up at him again, this time a small smile gracing her face.

_Well, at least he asked me to come, no matter the reason._

Erza sat in silence, looking out the window as she lovingly stroked the unconscious Natsu's hair. She smiled to herself as the train pulled into Hargeon.

Erza shook Natsu to wake him up, but he still laid unconscious. After shaking him one more time, she slammed her fist into the side of his face.

SMACK!

This woke him up instantly as he quickly sat up, clutching his face in pain.

"Ahhhh! What's the deal Erza?"

"We've arrived in Hargeon, it's time to disembark."

She said as she collected her things.

Natsu's face changed from anger to surprise, "Oh we're here?" He then collected his stuff as he looked at his friends who looked at him confused. "What?"

Lucy & Levy laughed at him nervously, and Wendy looked at him confused at what she saw but she was pulled away by Carla; "Come on Wendy let's go." They walked off the train with Happy following behind them. Gray grabbed his things and walked off, Juvia eagerly following behind him and Gajeel turned around to leave the train last "idiot." He said under his breath as he walked off.

Erza finished gathering her things and began to leave the train "Come on Natsu let's go."

"Right." He followed her off of the train wondering why his friends looked at him so weird earlier.

What was their problem?

Little did he know that his friends were looking at the red handprint glowing red on Natsu's face that was a result of Erza's "wake-up technique."

They disembarked the train and the group made their way into the center of town. Levy then pulled out a map to show their next route. She placed on the ground and everyone huddled around as she began pointing at their route.

"Ok, if we head north through the marketplace, we should make it to a field outside of the city." She moved her finger along the path she was explaining. "When we reach the clearing we head east and it should b to 2 day trip if we take this path through the forest." She stood back up and rolled up the map, placing it back into her knapsack and looked around at everyone as they nodded in agreement.

Erza then faced north and began walking as the group followed behind her. As they made their way through the marketplace, Gray moved to the front of the group to talk to Erza.

"Do we have any idea who requested the job?"

"Apparently it was the mayor of the town."

"The mayor? Why he didn't take it up with the council?"

"Well after the scandal with Siegrain & Jellal, most people are afraid to trust the council again. That's why they requested guild assistance as opposed to the army."

Gray placed his hand under his chin and pondered as he walked, "That does make some since but still…"

Natsu interjected himself between them, hearing their entire conversation. "Why does it matter? A job is a job right?"

"It's important to get all the facts before running into the things moron." Gray said annoyed.

Natsu looked irritated at Gray, "What did you call me streaker?" he said insulted

Gray met his gaze with equal annoyance, "You heard me loser, or are you hard of hearing too?" They angrily stared at each other as they stopped walking.

Lucy sighed, "Here they go again."

Gajeel smirked, "Finally something exciting."

Erza stopped walking, however and spoke with a commanding tone in her voice.

"Natsu. Gray."

The two wizards turned white with fear and looked at Erza who still has her back turned to them.

"Y…Yes ma'am" they answered in unison.

"Is there a problem?"

They looked at each other and smiled nervously, they then put their arms around each and walked as if they were the best of friends. "Nope no problem's here right Natsu?" Gray asked as he awkwardly smiled at Natsu. Natsu smiled back, "Nope, no problem's here Gray." They both laughed nervously as the rest of the group stared at the two awkwardly.

Erza then looked back at the two and smiled, "Good. Now let's continue, we've almost made it outside of town."

"Aye!" they once again said in unison as Erza began walking again.

The rest of the group followed behind them. Wendy looked at Lucy confused, "What happened?"

Lucy looked down at her and smiled, "Oh, that? They're just afraid of Erza."

"Oh, I see." Wendy giggled to herself as she kept walking.

Gajeel crossed his arms in annoyance as he walked, "Man I thought we were going to see a fight."

The group made it to the field outside of town and headed to the woods. As they trekked forward night began to fall, seeing that her friends were growing tired, Erza stopped and turned around.

"We'll set up camp here for the night and continue in the morning."

…

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**2nd chapter up. I know not much happened in this one, still setting up the different relationships. Thoughts? :)**


	3. One Night in the Forest: Prologue

The group put down their things and Natsu used his magic to create a fire. They sat around it as the flame lit up the night. Erza searched in one of her bags and pulled out a huge assortment of meat. Natsu began drooling as everyone else sat stunned, even Gajeel raised an eyebrow at the amazing sight.

"Well everyone, use the flame to heat it up and eat." She smiled at all of them as they reached for the food; Natsu & Happy of course taking most of it. They all ate quietly and everyone, save Natsu & Happy who were happily stuffing their faces, could feel the eerily awkward silence creep around them. Even though they all knew one another, they had never gotten a chance to be alone together in one place before even on the last mission Wendy, Lucy, Gajeel, & Natsu went on; the latter two id the majority of the talking.

Save for Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Happy, & Erza; most of the group had barely had interaction with one another outside of huge missions. Erza noticed what was going on and came up with an idea. She looked over to Natsu, who was sitting next to her and motioned her eyes to a small clearing past the trees.

Natsu, who still had a huge piece of meat in his mouth, looked at Erza with a confused look. She motioned her eyes again, this time more forcefully, but Natsu was still not getting the message. Fed up she raised her hand and decked him in the back of the head in one fell swoop,

POW! Knocking him out. Natsu fell to the ground as the others looked at him worriedly, Erza then grabbed him under the arms and began to drag him in to the clearing. Smiling nervously at the group as she dragged the fallen wizard.

"Oh my goodness Natsu what happened to you?" she said facetiously hoping the others would buy her lie. "Let me take you into this small clearing and see if I can get you back on your feet." She then looked at her friends with a huge fake smile, no one was fooled; but this didn't sway Erza. "We'll be right back." Soon enough, she and Natsu vanished from sight.

The fire continued to burn as the remaining members of the group once again found themselves in silence. That is until Gray stood up.

"All this quiet is killing me, I'm going for a walk." He began to walk towards the trees behind the fire. Juvia, seeing this as an opportunity to get closer to Gray, rose from the log she was sitting on and ran after him before he walked out of eyesight. "Wait for me Gray, I'll come with you."

Gray looked back her and kept walking, "Fine, suit yourself." The two then walked off into the trees.

A few minutes later, Lucy rose up from where she was sitting as well and began to stretch. "I think I'm going to see what kind of animals live in this forest." She then looked down at Wendy. "You wanna come with me?"

Wendy looked up at her with a content look on her face and nodded. "Sure." She answered happily as she rose from the ground. She looked at Carla who sat next to Happy in front of the fire.

"Do you want to come Carla?"

"No, I'm fine right here. Just be careful Wendy."

Lucy following Wendy's example asked Happy the same question.

"Do you wanna join us Happy?"

"No, I'll just sit here with Carla and wait for Natsu." The small cat then got a small gleam in his eye and his mouth began to water as he looked at Lucy.

"But if you see any fish bring me some, ok?"

Lucy looked at him with a hint of annoyance in her eye, "Didn't you just eat not too long ago?"

He looked down at his small feet and tightened his lips in frustration, "No. Natsu ate it all."

Lucy giggle and smiled at him, "Ok, if I see a fish I'll bring it to you."

His eyes lit up, as he looked up at her. "Really? You mean it?"

She nodded at him with a smile on her face and Happy jumped for joy. "Yaaaay! Fish fish fish fish…" he did a little dance as Lucy & Wendy walked opposite the path Gray & Juvia walked.

He stopped dancing and began drooling in anticipation of the meal he hoped would come, when Carla began talking to him.

"Happy, would you mind flying with me for a bit? I feel a bit bored just sitting here."

"Sure, ok." The cats smiled at each other as white angle like wings began to protrude from their backs. In a matter of seconds they had cleared the canopy and were above the forest, flying around at a steady pace.

As the fire began to roar in front of them, Levy blushed as she soon began to realize that everyone in their group had left camp…

Except for herself & Gajeel

…

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**Yeah I know this chapter is pretty short, the next 4 will probably be around this length. I'm going to try and be a bit experimental so bear with me for a bit lol. the next 4 chapters will have this title but a different subtitle that pertains to the pair it is about. I see this as a chance for me to go more in depth with each pair relationship without wasting any of the other characters in the story. Let me know what you guys think of the idea. :)**


	4. One Night in the Forest: Natsu & Erza

Natsu awoke lying against a tree away from the camp fire. He felt the spot Erza where had struck him as he looked around for something familiar. His eyes fell upon Erza, who was standing a few feet away from him looking into the sky.

He rose from the ground and walked towards Erza, standing side by side with her as he continued to rub his head. "Where did everybody go?"

"I imagine they are still at the campsite." She answered as she continued to look to the stars.

"Why did you leave them, and why did you drag me along?" he said looking at her confused

"Do you not want to be here?"

He stood silent for a moment and turned his gaze to the stars. He stopped rubbing his head placed his hands on his hips in a confident pose as he smiled.

"No, I don't mind. This is nice."

Erza blushed a bit and smiled.

"But why did you have knock me out?"

"Well you weren't receiving my signal, so I had to use…more forceful methods to get you to come."

"Signal?" Natsu scratched his head and thought to himself. He recalled before he fell unconscious that Erza kept shifting her eyes towards the clearing. His face then turned and he looked at her irritably.

"How was I supposed to know that was signal?!" he yelled, "I just thought you had to use the bathroom or something."

Erza looked at him sternly, annoyed by his ignorance. "You idiot, why would I tell you I had to use the restroom?"

He opened his mouth to speak then stopped, using his index finger to scratch the top of his head in confusion as he thought to himself again.

"Hmmm…I don't know." He said as he smiled.

Erza's face softened and she smiled softly as she shook her head at him. "You are such a fool." She then turned around to see Natsu heading back to the tree she had brought him to. He sat down, his right leg extended as he placed his arm on his left knee.

She chuckled, "Don't tell me you're still disoriented from my hitting you."

He smiled softly and looked at her, "No, just a bit tired." He then looked at the sky from where he was sitting.

"Hey Erza."

"Yes?"

"Why did we leave everyone else behind?"

Erza turned around and walked to the tree, pressing her back against it and sliding down until she was on the ground next to Natsu. Natsu still looked at her as she adjusted herself, awaiting her answer.

"I thought it would be a good idea to let everyone get to know each other better." She said still looking in the sky

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked also looking to the sky.

"You didn't notice?"

"Notice what?"

"Everyone was so tense on the train."

"Really? I didn't notice."

"Probably because you were unconscious." She said under breath.

"What?" Natsu said looking at her

"Nothing. Anyway, it was very awkward on the train ride to Magnolia. Aside from Wendy & Lucy no one was talking to one another. Juvia looked as if she was going to faint just being next to Gray, and Levy was blushing so much she looked like a tomato."

Natsu thought about what Erza had said to him. He always thought Juvia was an odd one, and he noticed Levy had acted a bit different ever since Gajeel joined; but he never really thought much of it. He then looked at Erza, "What do you think is wrong?"

"Well I…" she turned to answer Natsu but her words stopped. She noticed Natsu was looking directly at her, she looked in to his eyes and blushed she just realized that her & Natsu hadn't been alone since he had recovered. "I…I don't know." She quickly looked back into the sky

He looked at her like she had just spoken a foreign language and shrugged his shoulders as he turned his gaze back to the stars.

Erza began to speak again, "So I thought without the two of us there, they would have the opportunity to get better acquainted with each other."

"I don't really get what you're saying, but I'm sure they'll be fine. I mean we're all friends, so it'll all work out." Natsu said as he smiled.

Erza smiled as well and she lied her head on Natsu's shoulder this surprised him a bit.

"Hey Erza you ok?" he asked a bit concerned

She smiled as her eyes closed, "Yes I'm fine, just tired. Is it ok if I lie here for a while?"

Natsu scratched his cheek with his index finger as he blushed slightly. "Yea…I don't care."

She smiled a bit more and fixed her head upon his shoulder a bit more. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Erza fell asleep within a few seconds, and Natsu stayed in his same position so to not bother her. He began to drift off as well but

"AAAAHHHHH!" the scream echoed through his ears as he opened his eyes wide.

_That sounded like Wendy! I have to go find her…but Erza's still sleeping and I don't want to wake her._

Natsu then slowly moved Erza off of him and gently laid her on the ground as he stood up, leaving his scarf under her head so she had a makeshift pillow. With Erza secure, he looked down at her smiling. He then turned around and a look of determination ran across his face as began running to where the sound was coming from.

Erza, still asleep felt Natsu's scarf and held it tighter to herself on instinct as she smelled it and mumbled softly to herself.

"Natsu…don't go."

…

* * *

**First in the side chapters, this one was pure NaZa. Thoughts?**


	5. One Night in the Forest: Gajeel & Levy

Gajeel & Levy sat opposite each other at the camp fire. The silence surrounding them was stifling, and Levy could feel her chest tightening from the awkward atmosphere. Gajeel was lying on the ground, arms behind his head as he rested on the log he was previously sitting on; looking at the night sky. To him it was as if Levy wasn't even there. He glowered at the stars like they had stolen something from him.

"Man this is boring." He complained to himself, "Everyone's gone and I'm stuck here with this girl. Why did I even come on this job?" He closed his eyes and began to remember how he was roped into this mission. He then smirked as he remembered, "Oh yeah, the reward is 10 million jewel." He lightly laughed to himself, as Levy sat on the opposite side of the fire. She looked at him, peering just over the log where she could see his hair and faintly hear his voice as he talked to himself.

_What is he talking about over there? He's so weird. _

She eased back onto the log she was perched on and clasped her fingers together nervously. She then began to fiddle her thumbs about in order to ease her tension, it didn't help much.

_Come on Levy, you can do this. Just say something to him. _She looked at him again, and saw he was still talking to himself. _Or maybe not._ _This is so awkward. Why didn't I go with Lu?_ She thought to herself as she began to think of Lucy. _I wonder where she and Wendy went off to, maybe I can still catch up to them._

She motioned to stand up from the log and follow the two girls, but something stopped her just as she was about to leave.

"So…I uh wanted to say thank you."

Levy turned around and saw that it was Gajeel who was speaking to her. Even though her back was turned to him, a wide eyed look graced her face as she looked down at the ground.

"Thank me for what?"

Gajeel sighed as he continued to look at the sky above. "You know, for takin care of me after I got banged up."

Levy slowly moved backwards and sat back down on the log, her back still turned to the black haired wizard. She began to think about when he came back to the Guild with Lucy & Wendy after they were ambushed. For a reason she couldn't explain she immediately ran to Gajeel after seeing him in that state.

She looked at the palms of her hands. A frightened look took over her face as she remembered the sight of his blood on them, it still haunted her. She never wanted to see him that way again, but she couldn't fathom why. She then recalled staying by his bedside as he recovered from his wounds, she could still remember the smell of the room they stayed in, it smelt of pine.

Gajeel continued speaking, unaware that Levy was drifting into the recesses of her memories.

"No one's ever worried about me before except for Juvia, and she can be a real pain sometimes."

Levy snapped back into reality just before he finished his sentence. "Oh, you don't have to thank me." She said, smiling weakly

"Yeah I do…I don't like to owe people." He said curtly.

Levy smiled wider, she couldn't believe that Gajeel had thanked her. Her head began to swell and she blushed. Realizing what was going on, she shook the thoughts out of her head and cleared her throat.

"So, you and Juvia have been friends for a long time huh?" she asked him as she began to look into the stars above.

"I wouldn't say a long time, but yeah. She was the only person I could stand to talk to in Phantom Lord." He began to reminisce on his old guild, more importantly the battle they had with Fairy Tail that caused them to join. He also thought of the time he crucified Levy and her friends to the tree in Magnolia and looked down with a sullen look on his face. He still felt guilty about what he did, but he was oddly happy that Levy never held it against him.

"What about before Phantom Lord?" Levy asked, as she tried to get more out of Gajeel, "You're a dragon slayer like Natsu right? Does that mean you were raised by a dragon as well?"

Things grew uncomfortably silent again as Gajeel thought about his "father".

"Metalicana." He said sternly

"I'm sorry?" Levy asked, not fully hearing him the 1st time.

"The dragon who raised me, his name was Metalicana." He looked down at the ground as he thought of the dragon. "He was a selfish bastard, but for some reason he chose to raise me."

"Did he disappear like Igneel & Wendy's dragon?"

"…Yeah."

Levy looked down at the ground with a sorrowful look on her face. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, not your problem." Gajeel said to her.

They sat in silence once again. Levy however stood up and walked to log Gajeel was lying on and sat there. She then looked at Gajeel and smiled, unnerving him a little bit.

"What are you smiling for?" he asked irritably.

"If you want…I can help you find him."

Gajeel blushed slightly as his eyes grew wide, he then quickly turned his head and a scowl appeared on his face. "I don't care…do what you want."

Levy took his harsh tone with a smile, "Ok then I'll help you find Metalicana."

"Whatever."

Levy looked up at the sky and smiled. She had seen another side of Gajeel and it made her…happy. Sure he was still brash, obnoxious, and rude; but she felt like she understood him a bit more, and that's all she really wanted.

The two sat in silence, but it wasn't an awkward one. They had learned a bit more about one another.

"AHHHHH!" the scream broke both of their moods.

Gajeel quickly rose from the ground, "The hell was that?"

"It sounded like Wendy." Levy said with a hint of fear in her eyes "She and Lucy went in that direction." She said as she pointed to the woods in front of her.

"Dammit, what now?" Gajeel then grabbed Levy and placed her on his back, panicking she draped her arms around his neck.

"W…What are you doing?" she asked nervously as she blushed.

"We need to find them, and you move to slow so it will be easier if I carry you while I run."

Levy looked annoyed upon hearing his explanation. She appreciated the sentiment, but was insulted that he said it the way he did.

Gajeel began to run to where the screams were coming from, Levy holding him tightly as he made his way through the trees.

A small but heartfelt smile gracing her blushing face.

…

* * *

**Second part in the mini chapters. focusing more on the GaLe (Gajeel X Levy) pairing on this one. Let me know what you guys think. :) More coming soon.**


	6. One Night in the Forest: Gray & Juvia

Juvia walked behind Gray as he angrily slashed away tree branches with a sword he made out of ice.

"Dammit how did we get lost?" he muttered to himself as he continued walking.  
Hey, you alright?" he called to Juvia.

She blushed as her eyes grew wide. "Y…Yes. I'm fine." She answered attentively as she followed him.

She clutched her chest, afraid of what could be in the forest as she walked closer behind Gray. She looked around them as she walked, not noticing that Gray had stopped walking ahead of her. She bumped him and fell to the ground.

"Ow." She rubbed her bottom and looked up. Her face grew red as an apple, as she saw Gray's open hand in her face.

"You alright?" he asked her, his hand still extended. Thoroughly embarrassed Juvia quickly rose on her own and nodded her head.

"Yes, I'm alright. Don't worry about it ha-ha." She laughed nervously as Gray recalled his arm to his side, he then motioned his head to a small clearing, signaling to move.

"Come on, we can stop here for now; I assume you're tired of walking around."

Juvia shook her head, and looked at him with a doleful look on her face. "I'm fine, really…I don't want to be a bother."

Gray sighed, "Stop looking so sad and come on." He grabbed her hand and brought her to the clearing, letting go of it as he sat on the ground.

She anxiously sat a small ways from him.

_This is the longest time I've been alone with Gray._ She looked at over at him as he lied down in the grass, staring up at the sky. _He's so handsome. _

She sat in silence for a few moments, but finally she thought of a talking point to start with.

"So…" she began nervously "Where did you learn Ice Make Magic?" she thought it was a dumb question but she had to start somewhere.

Gray closed his eyes and thought to himself for a bit before answering her.

"My master Ur taught it to me, before she died."

Juvia grew wide eyed as Grays words fell upon her ears. He continued to speak. Revealing his past to Juvia.

"My parents were killed by a monster named Deliora when I was a kid."

Juvia sat in shock as Gray continued his story, she never knew of the hard life he lived before joining Fairy Tail…it broke her heart.

"I had nowhere to go, so I wandered aimlessly for what seemed like forever. Eventually I had found myself in a snow covered land. That's where Ur & Lyon found me."

"Lyon, Lyon Vastia? You mean the Ice wizard from Lamia Scale?"

"Yeah, he & I trained under Ur, but for totally different reasons." He opened his eyes and once again looked to the sky.

"What do you mean?" Juvia asked him as she steadily moved closer to him.

"Lyon trained so he could surpass Ur…I trained so I could get revenge on the monster that took my parents." He smiled weakly as he began to reminisce on his time as Ur's apprentice, then as he thought of his final days with her, a glum look crossed his face.

Juvia nervously asked him her next question, "How…how did she die?"

His glum look turned to one of absolute shame. "She died because of me."

"What? But you would never…"

"Look it was my fault alright!" he yelled angrily clenching his fist tight as he remembered. Juvia shirked back, slightly frightened.

Gray calmed himself down and began to finish his story. "One day I found out that Deliora was attacking a nearby village. Even though I knew I wasn't ready to face him I ran there anyway against Ur's wishes, revenge was the only thing on my mind. Then…" He placed his hand over his face as he went back to the day Ur died.

"I was outclassed and I knew it." He sat up and clasped his fists tightly together. He could still hear the roars of Deliora in his mind, he could remember the smell of burning flesh and wood as the monster raged through the town; but somehow he managed to get through the rest of his tale.

"Things were bad there was death everywhere; I was scared out of my mind, I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn't move. Then Ur…came to save me."

"Did the monster kill her?"

Gray looked at her, then looked back up in the sky. "No, but it might as well have. She sealed Deliora using an ancient spell called Iced Shell that uses one's body as a shell of ice, sealing the target…but killing the caster. Ur sacrificed herself to protect me…and Lyon never forgave me for it."

Juvia's eyes once again opened in shock, as she covered her open mouth with her hand. Hearing Gray's story, saddened her greatly. _Oh my darling Gray, I had no idea you had gone through so much. _Just then a small smile appeared on Gray's face.

"I found myself looking for a way to free my master, and that's how I ended up in Fairy Tail. I was told that Master Makarov knew how to release the Ice Shell, but that wasn't the case. So I decided to stay."

He sighed, "It's what Ur would have wanted, and eventually Erza, Natsu, & the others allowed me to forget my problems, and I could move on." He smiled softy to himself as he thought of Fairy Tail.

Juvia held on to her pendant and smiled softly as well, she felt the same way about Fairy Tail.

She then moved a bit closer to Gray. "I know how it feels to be alone as well."

He shifted his eyes to her for a few seconds before looking back up. "What are you talking about?"

Juvia smiled weakly, "When I was a little girl, I couldn't control my magic very well, and I always teased me because no matter where I went it started to rain." She looked up as she continued to reminisce.

"As I got older, people began to talk about how gloomy the rain around me was…and it made me sadder. My boyfriend back then also left me because he couldn't stand the rain. I was all alone…until Master Jose invited me to join Phantom Lord."

Gray listened to Juvia's tale but said nothing, instead he opted to let her get it all off of her chest.

"I was happy that someone had finally accepted me, but I wasn't happy in Phantom. My only friend in the entire guild was Gajeel."

"Then why didn't you leave?" Gray asked her suddenly, "No use staying in a place that doesn't make you happy."

Same smiled weakly, she was happy Gray was listening to her. "I was afraid that if I left I would be alone again, and I couldn't bear that thought."

"Then we had the battle against Fairy Tail." She looked at Gray and blushed "And I met y…" she then blushed more when she realized what she was saying; she caught herself. "Someone."

"After the battle was over I begged the master to let me join the guild…I also begged for Gajeel to join as well." She smiled wider, "Now I feel like I'm part of a family. I love being in Fairy Tail."

Gray smirked "Well that's how it is, so you don't have to worry. As long as you're part of Fairy Tail you'll always have a family."

She smiled softly and moved closer to Gray, soon she was right next to him as he lied down. He head began to grow light from being so close. Her body grew hot and her heart began to race.

"Gray?"

"Yeah?"

"I…

"AHHHHH!" a loud scream echoed through the forest.

Gray suddenly stood up, startling Juvia. She stood next to him.

"Who was that?" she asked

"That sounded like Wendy, come on!" He grabbed her arm and Juvia almost fainted from happiness.

Gray looked at her irritably, "What's wrong with you? We have to go find her."

Juvia quickly regained her senses, "You're right, let's go." She smiled with a look of determination

Gray, still holding to Juvia's arm ran back into the forest, "Stay close to me."

"Ok." She then made a sound decision in her mind.

_Gray I'll do my best…for you. _

_Hopefully one day I can tell you how I truly feel._

…

* * *

**Focused on the Gray & Juvia pairing in this one. Let me know how the story progresses; update soon. :)**


	7. One Night in the Forest: Lucy & Wendy

Lucy & Wendy made their way to a small stream and decided to take a break. Lucy sat upon a large rock next to the stream, and Wendy sat on a rock opposite her.

Lucy took off her shoes and placed her bare feet in the water. "Ahhhh, If feels good to sit down for a little bit." She looked over to Wendy who was nervously curled up on the rock. "Is there something wrong?"

Wendy looked up at her and nervously asked, "Lucy…do you like being in Fairy Tail?"

The young girls question surprised Lucy, of course she liked being in Fairy Tail, she loved it; but maybe Wendy didn't. "Of course I like being in Fairy Tail, I love it." She said with a big smile, "She then looked down at the water as she looked at her reflection in it, "I've wanted to be in Fairy Tail ever since I was young." She looked back at Wendy, "Do you not like the guild?"

Wendy shook her head weakly and smiled softly, "It's not like that, I like being in it as well' It's just that I don't think I fit in there. Everyone seems so lively and friendly, but I'm too shy to really talk to anyone."

Lucy smiled softly at the girl, she knew exactly how she felt. "I was nervous when I first joined the guild."

"You were?"

"Yeah, I was. Luckily I had Natsu & the others to help me out. I'm still amazed at times that they let me stay in the guild."

Wendy looked her with a quizzical look on her face. "What do you mean?"

Lucy looked down at the water once more, this time with a more sullen look as her smile grew smaller and smaller. "Not too long ago a guild named Phantom Lord attacked Fairy Tail…they were sent by my father."

Wendy eyes grew wide, "Why would he do such a thing?" she asked Lucy as she tried to comprehend what she had just heard. Lucy continued her story.

"About a year before I joined Fairy Tail, I ran away from home."

"Why did you do that?" Wendy still had trouble understanding her reasons

"Well," she continued to watch the water wash over her feet, "I came from a very wealthy family, so a lot was expected from me; but it wasn't all bad, I loved all of the servants and I had" she paused for a moment "My mother."

"Your mother?" Wendy began to think of Grandeeney, the Air Dragon that raised her.

"Yes, my mother was also a Celestial Wizard." She unlatched her keys from her hip and looked at them lovingly, "Most of my keys were hers at one time."

"What happened to your mother?"

"When I was about 10 years old she passed away."

A look of sorrow appeared on Wendy's face. _I had no idea Lucy was so sad on the inside, she always appeared so happy._

"I'll never forget the date, July 7th, X777."

Wendy's eyes widened, _That's the same day Grandeeney and all the other Dragons disappeared._

Lucy continued her story as Wendy continued to listen attentively. "Soon after she passed away, my father buried himself in his work; he no longer had time for me anymore. I knew he was grieving over mom too, but as the years passed, he was no longer the loving, caring man I knew. So I ran away and joined Fairy Tail."

"But why did he send that guild after you?"

"He wanted Phantom Lord to bring me back home so I could marry a guy I never me because it was "good business for the Heartfilia family" he never took my feelings into consideration. Or thought about the damage he had done to Fairy Tail. We lost the guild hall in that fight, and we almost lost the master."

Wendy's surprise began to pile on, the more she heard Lucy speak.

"After the battle with Phantom, I went back home and confronted father."

"What happened?"

She paused and her smile grew a tiny portion as she looked up to the sky. "I told him that I didn't wanna see him again, and if he ever came after Fairy Tail again; I would come after him."

"Oh." Wendy smiled weakly, "I kind of envy you."

Lucy looked over to Wendy slightly surprised. "Why is that?"

"You're so strong, and confident, and kind. I wish I was more like that." She began to fiddle with her thumbs nervously "After Grandeeney left I was all alone, until I met Mystogan. I don't know why he let me follow him, but I was happy I wasn't alone. Then he took me to Cait Shelter, and I felt like I finally found a family until…" she stopped as she remembered when Cait Shelter disappeared. All of the friends she made, the family she had found…all gone, fading before her eyes. The young girl's eyes began to mist over as she slowly began to sob. "Everyone was gone, no one was left but me & Carla. I was so sad…"

She then stopped crying when she felt something on her forehead. She looked up to see that Lucy was holding her head against her own, comforting her.

"Don't worry, as long as you're in Fairy Tail you won't be alone again…I promise. If you need anything you can always ask me for help, think of me as your big sister heheh." Lucy smiled wide, and it proved infectious as Wendy smiled back at her.

Wendy wiped the tears from her face, "Thank you Lu…I mean big sister." She smiled wide, showing her white teeth to Lucy.

Lucy smiled back, "Anytime." She walked back to her rock and put her shoes back on and stretched herself out some. "You ready to head back?"

Wendy nodded happily and hopped off her rock. "Yes, let's head back to the others."

Lucy & Wendy made their way back to the campsite, but the increasing denseness of the trees made it hard for moonlight to get in, making it hard for them to see.

"Stick close to me Wendy, who knows what's out here."

"O…ok Wendy said nervously."

They continued to walk despite the limited visibility, soon coming up to a small clearing.

"There, looks like there's plenty of light there." Lucy said as they inched up to it.

They made although they still partly concealed in the trees. Lucy walked out and motioned for Wendy to follow her. When Wendy began to step out of the tree line however, she felt something slither onto her shoulder. She froze up, her body shaking as she looked to her left, terrified at what she saw. Her scream was one of absolute terror.

"AHHHHHHH!"

…

* * *

**Second to last part, focusing on the sisterly relationship I'm trying to create for Lucy & Wendy. updating with the last part of the side story soon. :)**


	8. One Night in the Forest: Epilogue

Natsu & the others made to Wendy & Lucy's location at around the same time, all of them anxious & worried about what happened to the young girl.

"Lucy what happened?" Gray yelled, Juvia appearing from behind him. "We heard Wendy scream."

Gajeel had arrived soon after and looked at Levy when he stopped moving. "You can get off now."

Levy blushed, "Oh…you're right heheh, I'm sorry." She slowly got off his back.

"I don't know." Lucy said worriedly, "I think she's still in the trees.

With all of them gathered, Natsu walked over to the trees where Lucy had pointed to and looked for Wendy. He saw the young girl frozen in fear as he approached her. He reached out his hand and lifted a small snake from Wendy's shoulder, he then picked her up and brought her back to the others in the clearing.

"Here she's fine." He said as he placed on the ground. "She screamed because of this." He held up the small snake and began to laugh, "Wow, I didn't know you were such a scaredy cat Wendy hahaha."

Lucy looked him annoyed "Knock it of Nat…" she froze as her face turned white with fear, the words no longer able to come out of her mouth,

Natsu looked at her confused, "What? I was just joking, what's wrong Lucy?"

He then looked at the rest of his friends, all of them too were captured by fear, their faces all going pale.

"Uh N…Natsu." Levy said nervously as she moved behind Gajeel.

"Hmm? What is it?"

Juvia dashed behind Gray, holding on to his arm for dear life.

"What is up with you guys? Gajeel? Gray?"

The two stood with their mouths wide open,

"huff huff huff." Natsu felt a warm breath moving across his neck, but he initially shrugged it off. He reached his hand behind his head laughing softly, "Ok Happy, you can stop…." He froze as he felt what was behind him.

It wasn't short cat's fur, it was long, coarse, and warm. He moved his hand up and felt a set of razor sharp teeth, teeth so sharp that if bitten he would be in pieces. He continued to move his hand up and felt a moist air from what felt like a nose.

"Huff Huff Huff Huff." The sound almost made his heart stop. He slowly turned around and saw this face of abject terror. It was a bear, but this was no ordinary bear; it had to be at least 12 feet tall, and weighed over 600 hundred pounds…and it was hungry.

"ROOOAAARRRR!" the mighty creature's roar pierced the very heavens, as it covered the land. Natsu slowly stepped back, his face as white as his friends. Then without a moment's hesitation he yelled.

"RUN!"

He grabbed Wendy and Lucy by the hips, carrying him at his side as the group raced off back to the campsite. Levy found herself once again attached to Gajeel's back, and Juvia found herself on Gray's back as well.

As they rocketed back through the forest, the bear was close behind them.

"This is all your fault girl!" Gajeel yelled at Wendy as they ran

"What?! How is it her fault?" Lucy yelled back at him

"If she hadn't screamed so loud that bear wouldn't have found us and we wouldn't be running for our lives!"

"Guys, I don't now is the time to be fighting do you?" Gray asked as they continued to run.

Levy could see a small light up ahead of them, "There it is, that must be the campsite." She said with a smile as she pointed, "We're almost there."

"ROAR!" the bear continued to bellow as it chased after them.

They made their way through the trees, Natsu leading the escape, but what he saw at the campsite was more terrifying than 100 bears.

It was Erza, she was fully awake; and she was not happy. Natsu however did not notice her anger and smiled as they ran toward her.

"Hey Erza you're ACKKK!"

Natsu dropped Wendy & Lucy as he flew into a nearby tree. Erza had extended her arm out to her side and it caught Natsu's neck clotheslining him. She then turned around and angrily stared at the group. "What is the meaning of all this running around the forest? You are making too much noise."

Everyone was too scared to answer Erza on account of the monstrous bear standing directly behind her.

Erza didn't notice however and kept addressing the group. "Don't sit there with your mouths gaping, what do you have to say for yourselves?"

Gray raised his hand out of fear for Erza's punishment and the bear.

"Yes, Gray."

"Ummm…Erza." He pointed behind her, his arm shaking.

Erza's eyes widened in surprise, "What?" she turned around to see the bear standing behind her.

"ROAAARRR!" The bear roared mightily again, but this didn't faze Erza. A look of rage took hold of her as her eyes met the bears. She inhaled deeply and let out a mighty yell of her own.

"RAAAAAGHHHHH!"

The bear gradually began to lose its intimidating look as it saw Erza's even more frightening visage. It back away slowly, before running the back the way it came. Nobody was relieved however, as they now had the more frightening Erza to deal with.

She turned around and faced her friends, her eyes still filled with anger. "Now, why don't you all explain what happened." Everyone cowered in fear as she moved closer to them, save for Happy & Carla who just touched down from flying, and Natsu…who was knocked out with his mouth wide open as he lied upside down at the root of a tree.

…

The next morning everyone awoke, all of them sore from last night; save Erza who woke up with a bright smile on her face.

"Is everyone ready to go?" she said with a smile

Everyone nodded groggily, groaning as they gathered their things. Lucy looked around, searching for something.

"What's wrong Lucy?" Wendy asked looking up at her.

"Where's Natsu?"

Erza's eyes opened wide as she remembered what happened the previous night. "Oh, don't worry I'll go get him, you guys can start walking. We still have about half a day until we reach Lumina."

"Alright, you heard her guys; let's go." Gray motioned as they all started walking through the trees. "Wait for me Gray." Juvia shouted as she ran to him.

"Let's go shrimp." Gajeel extended his hand to Levy, she grabbed and started walking next to him, blushing a bit.

Lucy & Wendy followed soon after, with Happy & Carla. The two girls smiled at one another as they followed Gray's lead.

Erza however had took a short path to the left, she walked a small ways as she came across Natsu, who was still upside down at the base of tree. He was snoring peacefully, drool coming from his mouth. Erza smiled at him, as she watched him sleep for a few more moments. She then kicked him in the head, waking him up.

"Huh…Erza?" he said weakly as he turned himself right round and stood up. "What's going on?" He looked at the tree he slept against as he cranked his neck. "What happened?"

"You were attacked by that bear." Erza said to him, obviously lying, but Natsu bought into it.

"Oh yea, that's what happened…I think. Where is everyone else?"

"They've continued towards Lumina. We need to catch up to them, so hurry up and gather your things."

"Alright then." He walked back to the campsite and packed up everything that was scattered. When he finished he stood and put his backpack on, but when he felt his neck; he began to panic.

Erza noticed him panicking, "What's wrong?"

"My scarf, I can't find it anywhere."

"Your scarf?" she moved her hand down her neck and felt something soft. She blushed when she realized that she had wrapped Natsu's scarf around her neck when she woke up last night. It felt so warm that she had forgot she had it on.

She hurriedly untied it from herself and extended her hand to Natsu.

"Here." She said quickly looking away from him so he couldn't see her red face.

"Oh, there it is, thanks Erza." He said with a wide smiled.

She blushed even more. "T…Thank you." She said anxiously

"For what?"

"For letting me use it when I fell asleep."

"Oh," he said as he wrapped around his neck in this usual fashion, "Don't worry about it. Anytime." He smiled wide again.

"Well, let's catch up to the others." She said nervously

"You're right. Let's go."

They began to walk side by side as the followed their friends out of the forest. Erza looked up at Natsu's smiling face as it gleamed in the morning sunlight.

She couldn't help but smile whenever she was near him.

…

* * *

**Taking a small break so i can draft out the next few chapters since that is when the mission actually starts. Will update as soon as I can though. :)**


	9. Lumina

After about 2 more days of walking through the forest, the wizards found themselves in the city of Lumina.

Everyone stood in awe of what they saw as they entered the huge town. Magic shops & restaurants as far as the eye could see. The Luminous River in the middle of town which separated the northern and southern sides of town. Just east of town square stood the famous Lumina Casino; where thousands of tourists would try their luck in the magical city.

The town was at least twice the size of Magnolia, and that wen for the population density as well. As far as their eyes could see there were people, residents were going on with their day to day operations, buying, selling, conversing…but something was off.

Erza was the 1st to notice it. "Do you notice what is going on?"

Lucy looked around confused, "What do you mean Erza? I don't see anything."

"Yeah I notice it too." Gray said replying to Erza, completely ignoring Lucy's question. "This place looks way too relaxed for a town that is supposedly swarming with Dark wizards."

"What do you guys think is going on?" Levy asked looking at the rest of the group for some sort of definite answer.

Erza continued to gaze at the people in town, "I can't say for sure, but we should make our way to the Mayor's office to get a grasp on the situation." She stood In front of the group and began to break down the mission plan.

"Lucy, Levy, Wendy, Happy, & Gray," she pointed at the five she named out "you're coming with me, we're headed to the mayor's office." She then turned her gaze to the others, "The rest of you find the Broken Sky inn, we will be staying there while we're here. There should be enough jewel in my bag to find rooms for all of us; we'll be back soon."

"Right." Natsu answered with a smile.

"Feh…fine." Gajeel replied slightly annoyed

"O…ok." Juvia answered with a hint of sorrow in her voice.

_Why did she have to take Gray with her? It's not fair._

Erza's group began to walk towards the bridge over the river, since the Mayor's office was located on the south side of Lumina; this left Natsu's group behind with all the bags. Erza's group was soon out of eyesight, getting lost in the shuffle of the crowd.

With them no longer visible, Natsu stretched and turned towards his group. He smiled wide, "Alright guys, let's get goin." He pulled Erza's luggage mountain, while Gajeel grabbed his, Wendy, and Levy's bags. He then looked to Juvia who still had a gloomy look on her face.

"Hey Juvia!" He yelled, snapping her back to her senses. "Come on, we're going."

"You're right I'm sorry." She bent over to pick up Lucy's bag and froze when she went to pick the next bag…it was Gray's.

_This is…this is Gray's bag._ She sniffed the air above it. _It smells like him._ A loving look washed over her face, _oh my darling Gray, I feel like you are still with me now._ She giggled to herself as she hugged the bag.

"Juvia!" Gajeel yelled as he, Natsu, & the cats began walking off, "Hurry up or we're gonna leave you!"

Her face grew red from embarrassment, "Oh, sorry. Coming!" she yelled back. She grabbed Gray's bag and ran towards her friends. She was closing in them until she bumped into a tall man walking in her path.

THUD! They both fell to the ground.

"Ow." Juvia groaned as she rubbed her aching head, quickly noticing the man she ran into on the ground in front of her, she quickly rose from the ground as she bowed apologetically.

"Oh! I'm so sorry sir please let me he…" she extended her hand but the man simply rose from the ground, dusted himself off, and walked past Juvia. She turned around slightly confused as the man walked past her, it was as if he didn't even notice her.

_That was odd._ She thought to herself as she stood there looking at the man.

"Juvia!" Gajeel yelled irritated.

"Coming!" Juvia yelled back as she began running to her friends. _I wonder what that was about._

She caught up to them and began walking next to Gajeel, with a peering look in her eye as she looked down at the ground.

"Something up?" Gajeel asked, noticing her look.

"Oh, don't worry it's nothing." She said smiling at him, but soon went back to her quizzical look as they continued to walk.

…

Erza and her group had soon made their way to the mayor's office on the other side of town. Lucy, Levy, & Happy all looked up at the huge building in wonder. The old rustic clock in the middle of the building, with a spire extending so far it looked as if it could touch the sun.

"Come on, let's head inside; the sun will be setting soon." Erza declared, as the three returned to reality. The six entered the large structure only to notice that there was only a single desk in front of a huge door.

The walked towards the desk and saw a brown haired woman, wearing glasses, with a very well-endowed figure looking at them as they approached. She fixed her glasses and began to speak.

"May I help you?"

"Yes." Erza replied, "We have come to see mayor Hereon, we are here on a job."

The woman looked the group up and down as if she was analyzing them, and stood up. Grabbing a folder as she extended her arm to right. "The mayor is in a meeting right now, but if you would please take a seat over on that bench, he will be with you shortly." She pointed to a medium sized bench with a red cushion on it.

Erza & the others sat on the bench and awaited for their chance to speak to the mayor.

"This place is huge." Happy said as he sat in Lucy's lap, looking up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, but what's up with the one door and desk?" Lucy asked

"Maybe it's some kind of weird decoration thing." Levy answered smiling

As the three continued talking Wendy couldn't help but notice the stone look on Erza & Gray's faces.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked the two

"I don't know," Gray began to answer, "Something about this town seems a bit odd. Everyone seems so calm, but at the same time nervous."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't explain it for sure, but we'll see what happens when we talk to the mayor."

Erza sat silent as she continued to think about the town. Where were all the wizards? Why was everyone so calm? These questions continued to race through her mind, perplexing her.

Eventually the huge doors opened and 3 men walked out of the mayor's office.

Two of them were wearing formal suits, and shades. Both of them had oddly green colored hair, it was possible they were twins; but that wasn't the weird site. In front of them was a man, with a distinctive scar above his right eye, his hair was a brilliant shade of gray, almost silver as it glistened in the light. He wore a pair of dark blue pants, with 3 holes in the left leg and 2 holes on the right leg, he had to be at least 6' 6" with a black jacket draped over his muscular frame, and he wasn't wearing a shirt under the jacket. He walked past the Fairy Tail wizards, he and Erza trading glances as he walked by.

There was something about him…he didn't seem threatening but she could tell he had immense magical power. What could someone like that want with the mayor? Were they another group of wizards there for the same purpose?

After the threesome had left the secretary stood in front of the open door and extended her right arm towards the opening. "The mayor will see you now."

The 6 got up and walked inside the huge office, the door slowly closing behind them. The group looked around as they stood in the office. There were paintings, all of excellent quality placed about the walls; some of them high end art, others painting of Lumina. After looking around for a few more seconds they all looked straight ahead.

A bald man in a deep purple suit, hands clasped behind his back stood in front of a large window. The sun had already set and the town had light up with bright lights.

"Do you know why they call this town Lumina?" he asked them rhetorically. "It is because of the bright lights that illuminate the city at night. The brightest and most beautiful lights in all of Fiore. They glow from the north end shopping district, to the casino, all the way the ends of the river." He sounded as if he had a hint of sadness in his voice as he turned around to face Erza's group.

"Now, what can I do for you today?"

Erza stepped forward and bowed, everyone else followed her example. "Mayor Hereon, I am Erza Scarlet and these are my companions…" She then pointed towards her friends as she said their names, "Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia, Wendy Marvell, Levy McGarden, & Happy. We have come in response to the request of eliminating a dark guild from Lumina."

Mayor Hereon sat at his desk and his head on his hands. He looked at the group with a note of sorrow as he spoke to them. "I see you are the wizards from Fairy Tail that I heard about…" He paused and smiled, although it looked a bit off "I'm sorry all of you came such a long way, especially you Titania; but we no longer require your services."

Everyone's faces gave way to shock, except for Erza whose eyes were still focused on the mayor.

He began to write on a piece of paper on his desk. "If you like I would be happy to pay for your trip home." He finished writing and reached out his hand, the piece of paper inside. Erza walked forward and grabbed it she then walked back to her friends, her face still calm.

Gray on the other hand was not so easily dismayed. "What do you mean you don't need us? Do you how much time we…" he stopped when Erza placed her hand on his shoulder. He calmed down and stepped back as Erza turned towards the mayor.

"I see, we are sorry we bothered you sir." They once again bowed as they exited the office. The mayor politely waving to them as the door closed. Once they made it outside, Gray began to question Erza as she looked at the paper in her hand.

"What was that Erza? It's obvious he was lying. What if he was part of that guild?"

"I know he was lying Gray." She answered him sternly

"Then why did we leave?"

She held up the piece of paper the mayor had given her. It had the numbers 958236 on it.

"We left because he gave you a check?" Gray asked irritated.

"Levy." Erza called out as the girl stepped forward

"Yes?"

"Can you use one of your magical tools to look at this?"

"Huh? Well…yea I should."

Levy reached into the bag she brought with her and pulled out a pair of white glasses. She put them on as she looked through her glasses, the numbers began to glow and change into letters.

"I get it, it was a code." Lucy said she as she watched the numbers.

The paper stopped glowing and the group looked at the piece of paper: "Meet at the Glowing Spider bar at 11 pm." Happy read aloud. He looked at everyone else, "What does it mean?" Wendy asked.

"It could be the mayor trying to send us some kind of message." Erza guessed

"Or it could be a trap." Gray added

"Regardless of what it is, we should rendezvous with Natsu & the others before deciding what to do next. Let's head to the inn." Erza's group began to walk to the inn to regroup, but little did they know a shadowy figure was following them.

...

* * *

**New Chapter, the mission has finally started. Let me know what you guys think. :)**


	10. Mission Start

Natsu & the others made it upstairs to their room and placed their things inside. Tired, Gajeel lied down the 1st bed he saw.

"Damn, I'm tired. Feels good to finally be off my feet." He sat up and looked at Natsu, who was sitting against the window. This confused Gajeel.

"Hells up with you Salamander?"

Natsu continued looking out of the window, "I don't know, something about this town. Something doesn't smell right." He squinted his eyes as he continued to think about what was bothering him.

"So you noticed it too huh?" Gajeel inquired as he lie back down.

Natsu turned and looked at him, "What?"

"You noticed something was off about this town as well." He looked over at Juvia, "You did too didn't you?"

She nodded in agreement, "Yes, this man bumped into to me earlier. When I reached to help him he simply got up on his own and walked passed me, it was like I wasn't there at all."

Natsu sat perplexed, "Yeah something weird is definitely goin on here, think it has to do with that Dark guild?"

The others nodded in agreement, "What do you propose we do?" Carla asked

"Nothin we can do right now. We just have to wait till Titania and the others get back." Gajeel said as he slowly closed his eyes.

"You're right." Natsu said looking at his friends, "We just gotta wait for Erza."

Juvia looked out of the window and clasped her hands together.

_Gray, please be safe. _

…

On the other side of Lumina, Erza's group was making their way towards the Broken Sky Inn, where Natsu and the others were waiting. They made their way down a dark alleyway, but to everyone's surprise Erza made a sharp right into another alleyway.

"Where are we going Erza? Isn't the inn the other way?" Lucy asked

"We're being followed." She said curtly

"How many of them are there?" Gray asked her as he began to prepare his magic.

"By my count, I'm guessing 4."

"What are we going to do? Fight them?" Levy asked

"No, it would cause too much noise. If they are with the guild that's supposedly taken control of the town, we don't want more of them coming our way."

"Well what do we do?" Wendy asked her worriedly

"I have an idea. Gray, Levy, I need you two to create a smoke screen."

They both nodded in agreement. Gray began to focus his energy in his hand until a cube about the size of his palms appeared. Levy then stretched out her right arm, outstretching her index and middle fingers. She created a small arc with them and a small word saying "FIRE" appeared. The word mixed with Grays cube and created a thick mist that covered the group as they turned the next corner.

The men following them opened their eyes in shock as they ran into the mist after the wizards. When they turned the corner however, the group was gone and all that was left was a hole in the ground.

"Dammit!" One of the men yelled in frustration, "We lost them!" he kicked a rock in anger as one of his accomplices approached him. "No use dwelling on it, I think they are going to be here for a while. Come on, let's go report back to the boss." The three men nodded in agreement and went back the way they came.

In front of the inn, Lucy was the last one out of the hole in the ground; being helped out by Gray. As she stood up, she brushed the dirt off of her and turned towards the hole. As she looked into in, a pink haired girl wearing a black & white maid outfit with broken shackles on her wrists emerged from it. She bowed before the group as Lucy smiled at her.

"Thanks a lot for the assist Virgo."

"It was my pleasure mistress." The girl answered back, "Is there anything else you require from me?"

"No that's it, you can go back now."

"As you wish mistress." She bowed once again before glowing gold and disappearing.

When Virgo disappeared the group went inside the inn. They made their way to the room and entered. Juvia instantly jumped onto Gray.

"Oh Gray thank goodness you're safe." She said happily as she rubbed her face against his. Gray was squirming as he tried to get her off of him. "Come on. What are you doing? Get off me."

Erza & the others casually stepped over the two as Gray finally managed to get Juvia off of him.

"So what happened?" Gajeel asked as he sat up in the bed.

"Well…" Erza began, "Something is definitely wrong here in Lumina."

"Yeah we noticed it too, right guys?" Erza asked questioning Gajeel & Juvia, who both nodded in agreement as Juvia then explained her encounter with the man she bumped into earlier.

"I wonder what's going on here." Levy thought aloud.

"What did the mayor have to say?" Carla asked looking over to Erza.

"He said he no longer required our services and that we should leave."

"What?!" Natsu stood up agitated, "What does he…"

"Calm down Natsu." Erza commanded.

"He was obviously hiding something, and judged by the manner he was speaking; I'm positive he was being watched when we were in his office."

"Watched?" Juvia looked confused

"Yes." Erza answered looking at her. "He gave us this piece of paper." She held it up to Natsu's group.

"Meet at the Glowing Spider at 11 pm." Natsu read the note aloud.

"The hell's the Glowing Spider?' Gajeel asked with a hint of annoyance

"It's a bar on the west side of town, approximately 1 mile from the casino." Erza answered him.

Carla looked up at Erza, "Do you think it's a trap?"

"We don't know." Wendy interjected

"So what are we going to do?" Natsu asked.

Erza looked at the paper, placed on the table, and looked at the rest of the group. "We're going to go to the Glowing Spider."

"Alright. Finally some action." Natsu said excitedly.

"Ok, then whose going?' Gray asked her.

"Natsu & I will go…alone."

Everyone looked at her with surprise. Gray got up from his chair in a huff, "Are you crazy Erza?! We don't know anything about what's going on, or even if this bar is on the level."

"Don't worry we won't truly be alone. Happy & Gajeel will watch us from the roof tops to make sure we're not followed. The 1st sign of trouble Happy will come back here and tell the rest of you."

Gajeel smirked and pounded his fist into his open hand. "Finally, I was tired of doing nothing."

"Fine." Gray was still now happy about the two going by themselves, but he relented.

"Be careful you guys." Lucy said as she smiled at them.

Erza, Natsu, Gajeel, & Happy made their way out of the door, "Don't worry we will." Erza replied as they walked out, closing the door behind them.

They made their way outside and looked up, it was dark outside. 'What time is it now?" Erza asked

Natsu looked at the clock that was in the middle of the shopping district. "It's 10 pm now."

"Well we better get moving." Erza looked at Gajeel & Happy, they nodded to her as happy grew his wings and grabbed Gajeel, lifting him to the top of the roof.

When they were in position, Gajeel gave the thumbs up. Erza looked up to him and nodded, her & Natsu then looked at one another and began to run towards the bar. Gajeel & Happy following them from the rooftops.

Soon the pair made it to the bar, they both gave each other a determined look and headed inside; Natsu leading the way. Erza looked back to Gajeel & Happy and nodded to them as they stood on the rooftop across from the bar.

They entered the bar and to their surprise all they saw as the bartender and a hooded figure drinking beer in the corner. They stepped further in and noticed that the bartender was shifting his eyes to the cloaked stranger. After looking at each other once more, they moved to the table where they were sitting.

As they sat down, the figure began to speak to them. "I see you received the Mayor's note."

"Yes, we did." Erza replied in confirmation

"What is this about? What is going on here?"

"Shhh." The figure placed their finger over their lips, "It's not safe to speak of these things so loudly. They could be watching."

"Who?" Natsu asked confused

"The guild who took over Lumina…Night Shade."

Natsu & Erza's eyes opened in surprise.

_Night Shade?_ Erza thought to herself. _That's the Dark Guild that captured Natsu and tortured him._ She clenched her fists in rage as she thought of when herself, Laxus, Gray, Juvia, & Happy rescued Natsu from them no too long ago. The thought that they were not completely obliterated filled her with rage, but she managed to compose herself and looked at Natsu.

His face was focused on the hooded figure as they continued to speak. She could tell Natsu was angry, but he hid it better than she did. She then looked forward to listen to figures words.

"About 1 month ago their leader, Romero came into town with his two men."

Erza thought back to the man she saw in the Mayor's waiting room, could he have been Romero?

The figure continued, "At 1st things seemed normal, no one had even noticed at the time that he had come into to town. Then, about 2 weeks after his arrival; the city was attacked."

"Was it the rest of his guild?" Erza asked earnestly

The figure nodded, "Yes. They destroyed everything, the markets, homes; they even assaulted a number of the citizens. At 1st the mayor was steadfast in stopping them, but as the days past; it became too much and he eventually relented."

"That's terrible."

"It was yes. However, we still managed to get a job request outside of the town, hoping that someone would come to our aid."

"Wait something doesn't feel right." Erza began to think "If such an invasion happened in such a well-known city, how come no one has heard of it outside of the job request?"

The figure sat quiet for a moment and answered the wizards question, "A day or so after the job request was sent out, Night Shade cast a spell on the entire town. It is a type of illusion magic, to the outside. All looks and sounds normal, this is so they can still lure tourists. Once you walk inside however, you cannot leave."

Erza & Natsu's eyes once again opened in surprise.

The figure then finished, "All of the people inside of the town are slowly having their free will drained by the spell. Soon we will all be mindless drones for Romero."

_That explains what was wrong with that man Juvia bumped into today,_ Erza thought to herself. _He must have been under to influence of the spell._

"But how could they cast a spell that large?" Natsu asked in confusion

"There are 5 stations set up in areas around the town, they are each guarded by no less than 20 of the guilds wizards." The figure pulled out a map with red X's on it, marking the different locations. "Here is where they are located, the main station is in the casino." They placed their finger on the biggest X. 'You have to destroy them all in order to lift the spell."

Natsu had a determined look in his eye as he stood up, "Alright what are we waiting fo…" Erza placed her hand in front of him, cutting him off.

"How do we know if we can trust you? You could be working for Night Shade." She gave the stranger an angry gaze.

The figure then stood up and removed their hood, to Erza's surprise it was the Mayor's secretary. "Please." She pleaded as she clasped her hands together. "Please save this town."

Erza & Natsu looked down at the woman as she was on her knees begging them. They could tell she had suffered a lot from this guild, the entire town had, they knew they had to stop it.

Erza kneeled down and placed her hand upon the woman's shoulder. "Don't worry, we will save this town."

The woman stopped sobbing and looked up at them, Erza & Natsu both smiled at her as Erza stood up. She watched them as they headed towards the door.

BOOM!

…

* * *

**Next chapter, will try and have a new chapter every morning until the story is finished. I already have an idea for the ending of the whole story :)**


	11. Romero

Erza & Natsu rushed out of the door as the dust outside settled to see that Gajeel was surrounded by hundreds of Night Shade wizards.

"Gajeel what happened?" Erza asked anxiously

"I don't know these guys started to surround the bar just as you guys started to head out. I already sent Happy back to the others."

The three of them grouped together as the forces began to attack, Erza re-quipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor and began an aerial assault as Natsu & Gajeel fought from the ground. They began to gain the upper hand with the guilds dwindling…until the door to the bar opened.

All of the remaining members of Night Shade stopped fighting and turned their attention to the door. From out the door stepped their leader, Romero. The silver hair, distinct holes in pants, dark jacket; just like Erza has suspected, it was the man she say in the Mayor's office building. As he stepped out of the bar the three could see that the bartender was dead, hunched over his bar, but something else caught their eye; Romero was holding the Mayor's secretary by the neck, squeezing the life out of her as she dragged along the ground.

"Let her go right now!" Erza demanded as she floated to the ground next to Erza & Gajeel who bared their teeth ready to fight.

He smirked at them maliciously and began to speak, his voice having a deep, gravely tone to it. "So I was right, Fairy Tail has come to Lumina." He looked over the three wizards as they stood across from him. "I see they sent three of their strongest here: Titania Erza, & two of the guilds three dragon slayers; Black Steel Gajeel & Natsu Dragneel AKA Salamander." He looked at the each as he said their names, "I'm flattered actually. You don't how happy this makes me." His face turned to rage "Now I can pay you back for destroying our guild hall!" the weight of his words was intimidating, but Erza & the others stood their ground.

"I will tell you one last time." Erza said slowly, but with such intensity. "Let her go now." Her stare burned a hole into the villain. His face reverted to it cocky smirk as he lifted the woman in his grip to the three. "Who? This woman? I no longer have a use for her." Then in one quick motion, he snapped her neck, killing her. As he threw her body to the wayside; Natsu already started moving.

"Natsu wait!" Erza screamed, but it was too late, Natsu already made his way to Romero, his fist emitting an intense flame.

"You…" He drew his hand back to attack, but he suddenly felt a force pushing him backwards.

"Agh!" He flew back into the building behind them.

CRASH! It crumbled from the force of his impact.

"NATSU!" Erza yelled in worry as she looked at Romero with anger. She moved to attack but was intercepted by Gajeel.

"Damn you!" the black haired wizard yelled as he rushed him. "Iron Dragon Sword!" he shouted as his right arm changed into a sharp blade with spiky protrusions, they began to vibrate rapidly mimicking a chainsaw blade as he face Romero.

Vrrrr!

The blade whirred as Gajeel moved to strike, bringing his arm upward. As he swung down however, he felt something blocking it.

"What the hell?" His blade had been parried and he was helplessly floating in the air for a few seconds, but that was all the time Romero needed.

BASH!

He dug his fist into Gajeel's stomach, forcing the mighty wizard eyes to open in shock.

"Blagh!" He coughed out blood as he flew back in to the building next to Natsu.

CRASH!

Erza stood in shock, two of her comrades had been taken down effortlessly by this…monster; but a look of determination took hold of her face as she tightened her grip on her sword, she knew she couldn't run away, she never ran away from a fight.

Romero held up the fist that had just felled Gajeel, as he smiled maliciously at Erza. "That's two down Titania, how do you think you will fare?"

"Re-Quip!" She glowed as bright as the sun in the sky as her armor changed.

As the glow faded, Erza was not clad in a black armor with silver trimming, and wings protruding from her back. She now held up her purple and silver blade towards her adversary. "This is my black wing armor." She explained confidently, "You will pay for your crimes in this town."

"Aaaagh!" she rushed him but he was ready, with a flick of his finger Erza was in the sky above them. He jumped as Erza used her wings to stabilize herself, and the fight began in the air.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Erza swung her sword expertly but all of her attacks either missed or were deflected effortlessly.

What is going on? How come none of my attacks are connecting?

She continued to slash with no luck until…

BAM!

"Ugh!' she groaned in pain as she felt Romero's fist hit her stomach.

A small amount of blood spilled out of her mouth as she swung upward, catching Romero on the cheek.

Erza smirked at her strike. "Seems like you are not so untouchable after all."

Romero moved back and felt the scar on his cheek, as he looked at the blood on fingers; he became a totally different person, slightly frightening Erza. He rushed at her twice as fast as he was before.

"What?" Erza flew astounded but soon felt his fury.

POW!

Romero hit her in the face with a hard fist. He then began moving his fists with lightning speed as his punches increased in power. Erza could barely keep up with him as she tried to block.

She found an opening and tried to slash downward, but she suddenly grabbed her throat.

"Ack! Agh!" she flew there choking as she looked to Romero, who had his hand outstretched towards her.

He smirked at her, "I guess you were guessing how my magic works. I can manipulate air currents that allow me to fly, become faster stronger, and doge attacks easily." He then squeezed his hand, causing Erza to choke more. "I can also restrict air flow in people's bodies, choking them to death."

"Acck!" Erza struggled to breathe as she felt her life slipping away. She had never felt such power before and the thought of her possibly dying, frightened her. She managed to look at the rubble Natsu has caused and started to think about how she wouldn't get the chance to keep her promise, or tell him her feelings. Romero simply laughed as he saw the terror in her face.

On the ground below, Natsu had stirred awake, he got up to see Erza struggling for life in the air. His eyes widened in shock.

"ERZA!" he yelled from the ground.

In the air Romero look down at him smirking as he spoke to Erza, "Salamander is in luck, he gets to see me squeeze the life out of you."

Erza looked down, a small tear flowing down her face as she struggled to breathe. "N…Nat…su."

Natsu cheeks filled with air as he placed his clenched fists, one in front of the other in front of his mouth. He pointed himself upward.

"Fire Dragon ROAR!" Suddenly a torrent of fire flew into the air between Romero & Erza, breaking the formers concentration; allowing his grip on Erza to be released.

"Dammit." he groaned as Erza fell to the Earth below, falling at an incredible speed, akin to an angel that fell out of heaven.

Natsu ran desperately to intercept the impact. He caught her just before she hit the ground and let out a small sigh of relief. Erza's body shined again as her armor reverted, in a matter of seconds she was back in her white blouse and blue skirt. Natsu looked at her, his eyes filled with sorrow that he couldn't protect her. He then clenched her tightly in his eyes as he looked up at Romero in anger.

"Hey!" He roared from the ground, "Come down here so we can settle this you bastard!"

Romero simply floated and laughed at him. "If you want to fight so bad Salamander, you can find me on the top floor of the casino. I'm sure you and your friends were planning to try and destroy the spell anyway." He then smirked cockily at him, "Hopefully you can make it to me in one piece. Hahahaha!" He laughed maniacally as he flew off, his men following him.

Natsu stood there holding Erza for a minute, an enraged look still on his face as he walked to Gajeel who had recovered.

"The hell that bastard go?' he asked angrily.

"Back to the casino." Natsu answered with a tinge of regret. Gajeel then looked at Erza who was still in Natsu's arms.

"She ok?" he asked Natsu as he looked at the unconscious Erza.

"I don't know, but we have to get back to the others. Hopefully Wendy can heal her."

Gajeel nodded and the two ran back towards the inn where their friends were waiting. Natsu looked down at Erza with worry, she was struggling to breathe.

"Nat…su." She managed to say albeit very weakly.

He looked down at her with an angry look in his eye over what just happened.

_Don't worry Erza, I'll get you back to the others _he said as he clutched her closer to him_, then I'll make that guy PAY! _

…

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**Next chapter is up, probably will have 2 or 3 left in this story before i move on to the next one. keep giving me feedback guys i really appreciate any opportunity to make my writing better. :)**


	12. Don't Ever Say That To Me Again

The three eventually made it back to the inn. Natsu & Gajeel burst through the door in a hurry as Natsu laid Erza down on a nearby bed. The rest of the group looked at them in disbelief as the made their way over to their friends.

"Natsu, what happened?!" Lucy exclaimed, "What's wrong with Erza?"

"We were attacked by Night Shade, they're the ones who are controlling the town." He said in a stern voice

"Night Shade? You mean that guild that Erza, Me, Juvia, & Laxus destroyed?" Gray asked with a hint of disbelief

Gajeel nodded, "Yeah those guys, turns out the guys you fought were just grunts; the boss is here in Lumina."

"Gajeel are you ok?" Levy asked worriedly as she looked at his injuries.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't get beat too bad, its Titania you guys should be worryin about."

The group stood near Natsu who was sitting Erza's bedside, a look of undeniable regret on his face.

"Wendy…" he said sorrowfully, "Can you heal her?"

Wendy nodded to her friend, "Yes, I should be able to heal her if her wounds aren't too severe."

Natsu got up from his seat so Wendy could sit and he walked to the other side of the room, his friends following him. After about an hour or so, Wendy walked over to her friends; they all looked at her, anxiously waiting on news about Erza's condition.

"She's out of danger for now. She just needs to rest so she can regain her strength."

Everyone sighed happily, all of them relieved that Erza was ok. Except for Natsu, he was still upset that he had allowed Erza to get hurt so badly.

Gray snapped him back into reality. "So what do we do now? How are they controlling the city?"

Natsu refocused himself and pulled the map he got from the secretary out of his shorts pocket. He then began to explain how the town was taken over and the effects of the spell being used on it.

Gray sat and thought about the matter aloud. "So what you're saying is that we have to destroy the sites in order to break the spell."

"Yeah." Natsu answered him sullenly

"Well," Gajeel began as he reclined in his chair. "What are we going to do Salamander?"

The room grew silent as everyone turned their attention to Natsu. He was still distressed about what happened earlier, and he looked at Erza who was still lying in bed. He clenched his fist in anger as he thought of Romero and turned his attention back to the group; a look of fury in his eyes.

"We're going to take down those sites." Everyone smiled and gave each other a determined look. They knew what they had to do.

"Well since there are 5 sites and 10…" Levy stopped as she looked at the fallen Erza, "9 of us, one of us will have to go to a site alone."

"I'll go. I'll take the one in the casino, that's where Romero is." Natsu said adamantly, the tone in his voice left no room for an open debate.

Gajeel smirked, "Fine you can warm him up, but after I finish my site I'm going to the casino too." He looked at his right hand as he clenched it into a tight fist, "I still gotta pay that bastard back for what he did to me."

"Well if Natsu is going by himself, where do the rest of us go?" Lucy asked the group.

"Well we have to divide the remaining sites among us, everyone else goes in teams of two." Gray explained as he pointed at the remaining sites on the map. "So who is going with who?" Gray looked around at the group.

Juvia grabbed his arm instantly and looked up at him, "I'll go with you Gray." She said with an alluring look in her eyes. Gray blushed slightly as he tried to get her off. "Ok fine, just give me some space." He said as he struggled to pull her off.

"I'll go with Wendy." Lucy said as she smiled at the young girl. Wendy smiled back and nodded at her.

"I'll take the shrimp." Gajeel announced as he placed his hand on top of Levy's head. An annoyed look appeared on her face as she moved his hand, but she couldn't hide the fact that she was also blushing.

"Alright then, we move out at dawn; for now we should get some rest." Gray announced as every else nodded in agreement. They all moved about the huge room to find a place to sleep. The girls took the beds, with the exception of Juvia who insisted on sleeping near Gray.

Lucy was fixing her bed and noticed Natsu sitting at Erza's bedside, she walked over to him. "Are you going to get some rest Natsu?" She asked him with a hint of concern.

"Yeah, I just want to watch over Erza for a little longer." He said with a hint of guilt as he watched Erza sleep.

Lucy placed her hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Natsu." She said with a smile, "Erza will be fine, I know it."

Natsu smiled weakly, "I know, thanks Lucy."

"Anytime." She went back to her bed and proceeded to go to sleep as Natsu stayed by Erza's bedside. The night dragged on as everyone was sleeping save Natsu. As he sat in his chair and watched Erza, he couldn't help but let his mind wander.

_Is this how it was for her when I was hurt? I can kinda feel what she felt._ "What was that called again?" he began to talk aloud. "Empty? Empire? Empery? Arrgghh! I can't think of it."

He began to rapidly scratched his head in frustration as he thought of it. When he heard a voice weakly speaking to him. "Empathy."

"That's it." He said satisfied, but quickly realized that he wasn't the one who said the word. He frantically looked around him to see where that sound came from, but all his friends were still sleeping. When he turned his attention back to Erza, she was sitting up in her bed.

"Ah!" Natsu quickly covered his mouth so as to not awaken the rest of his friends. He then began whispering to Erza. "What are you doing? You should be resting."

She smiled weakly at him, "I'm fine, really." She then blushed as she felt Natsu's hands on her shoulders. He slowly forced her back to a lying down position and pulled her covers back over her. She began to protest.

"Really Natsu I'm…"

"No you're not." He said in a commanding tone that surprised Erza, her argument ceasing before it even started.

"You have to get you're rest."

She could hear the uneasiness in his voice, as he spoke to her.

"I'm sorry Erza." He said a look of guilt washing over his face.

"For what?"

"For not keeping my promise. You got hurt because I rushed into things like always." He clenched his hands together, "If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be like this."

Erza softly smiled at him, "It's not your fault Natsu."

"But I…"

"I knew what I was doing. I thought I could beat him but he caught me off guard. At least you were out of harm's way." Natsu's eyes opened in surprise as Erza continued to talk. "If I died keeping you safe then I..." She tried to reassure him.

"Shut Up!" He yelled angrily as he rose from his chair. Interrupting Erza who laid in bed in surprise, she was speechless.

"What is so great about dying? It's just like at the Tower of Heaven, do you really think sacrificing yourself is such a good thing? What happens after you're gone? You leave us behind…and I don't want you to leave Erza none of us do." He pointed to his sleeping friends. "So I don't ever wanna hear that crap again." He said, his eyes misting over as he sat back down in his chair.

She smiled at him again as she thought of his words. "You're right, I was being selfish again. I promise I won't make such rash decisions again."

A smile slowly appeared on Natsu's face. "Good. Now get some rest."

Erza blushed and nodded as she closed her eyes and went back to sleep, Natsu following soon after.

…

As the day began to break, Natsu opened his eyes to see his friends were all ready to head out. "You ready?" Gray asked him smirking.

He nodded at him and rose from his chair. "Yeah, let's go take these guys down." He looked at Erza one last time before moving towards the door with the others. "Be safe you guys." Erza called weakly from her bed as her friends walked out of the door. All of them holding up their arms as a testament to the strength of their Guild.

Natsu was the last to walk to the door, but before he could walk out Erza called to him again. "Don't do anything too reckless alright?"

He smirked as he answered. "No promises. Don't worry we'll take these guys out." He walked out of the door closing it behind him.

Erza smiled and looked out of the window at the rising sun as she thought of her friends.

_Please Natsu, just come back to me safely._

…

* * *

**Done with the next part of the story. Not happy with some aspects of it so ill most likely rewrite somewhere down the line. Thanks for reading I appreciate any thoughts on the story as it nears its conclusion. :)**


	13. The Battle for Lumina

As the sun shined high and the sky, Natsu looked at the group; all of them smirking confidently. They all knew their mission and they all knew which routes they were taking. They knew that they weren't just doing this for Erza, but for all of Lumina as well. They all nodded at each other one last time before splitting up.

…

Gray & Juvia made their way east towards the park where their site was. They made it to their only to realize that no one was guarding it. Juvia moved to destroy the site but Gray held his arm out in front of her path, stopping her. A hostile look on his face.

"What's wrong Gray?" she asked concerned

"You don't hear that? There's something moving around under us."

Juvia closed her eye and focused, Gray was right; there was something moving underneath the ground. She tried concentrating more in order to make sense of it, but suddenly wrapped his arm around her waist and jumped into the air. The sudden movement startled Juvia, making her blush as she thought of Gray holding her close. However she quickly snapped out of it when she realized why Gray had grabbed her.

BOOM!

Juvia's eyes opened in shock as she saw the ground that they were previously standing on crumbling beneath them. Gray landed on the ground, a few feet away from them as he gently placed Juvia back on her feet. "Are you alright?" he asked looking into her eyes.

Juvia blushed and nodded embarrassingly, "Yes…Yes, I'm fine." She then shifted her focus to the hole in front of them. "What happened?"

"I don't know, it must have been caused by whatever was underground earlier."

As the dust from the rubble settled, Gray could see a figure standing on the other side of the hole. "Who are you?!" Gray yelled, "Are you part of Night Shade?"

The dust fully settled as the figure came into view, Gray could see that it was one of the guys that was following Romero from before. But his tuxedo was replaced by what looked like a plain white shirt, and dark blue pants. He wasn't wearing shoes, and as her turned around Gray & Juvia saw that he wasn't wearing his shades either. He opened his eyes and cocked his head to left and he smirked maliciously at the pair. His eyes were pitch black with red peoples, by all accounts he looked like a demon, but Gray & Juvia didn't waiver.

"Yes, I am. My brother & I are Boss Romero's right hand men. My name is Jordia." He bowed to the two, "It will be an honor to kill you…Fairy Tail wizards." He began to laugh manically, which sent a chill down Juvia's spine. She began to move behind Gray.

"Don't worry about this clown." Gray reassured her as he smirked. "We're Fairy Tail wizards, it'll take more than this guy's empty threats to scare us. Besides…" He looked her in the eye, "With our magic combined no one can beat us." Juvia eyes grew wide in amazement at Gray's words, and she nodded regaining her confidence. She moved from his back to standing at his side. "I'm ready." She declared proudly. Gray smiled at her, he could sense her resolve, he then his attention towards his enemy.

"Let's go!" He and Juvia rushed their opponent as the battle to destroy their site began.

…

Gajeel & Levy had arrived at their site, it was located in an alleyway across from the mouth of the river. The two found themselves surrounded by about 30 Night Shade wizards, each of them ready for a fight. Gajeel simply smirked and rushed them.

"Gajeel wait!" Levy yelled from behind, but Gajeel was too caught up in the battle to hear her. In a matter of minutes all of their enemies were incapacitated. Gajeel looked around with a dissatisfied look on his face, "Man, you guys were weak. I though you would put up a better fight than this."

As Gajeel wiped the small amount of blood dripping from his mouth, Levy was still in the mouth of the alley way watching him. _Wow I knew he was strong but that was amazing._ She thought as she stared at him in awe. _He took down all those guys without breaking a sweat. _

As Gajeel made his way to the site to destroy it Levy noticed something odd coming from behind him. _What is that? It looks like the wall is rippling as if it's made of water._ She continued looking at the spot and her eyes grew wide as she saw a figure moving from the wall to attack Gajeel.

"Gajeel look out!" she screamed trying to warn him.

Gajeel turned around and saw what she was warning him about, as a figure swung down at him. He managed to block and jumped away back to Levy's side. "Thanks." He said not looking at her.

"You're a sneaky bastard aren't you?" he asked the figure as it removed itself from the wall. Legs formed as it touched the ground and its skin changed from the wall to something more familiar. It was the other man that was following Romero in the mayor's office. He still had on his tuxedo, minus the coat and took off his shades as he faced the two wizards. His eyes were red with black pupils and he stared the two down, his arms behind his as.

"I see you were able to block my attack in time, thanks to that girl." He said in a cold, calculating voice as he turned his gaze towards Levy frightening her a bit. Gajeel extended his arm in front of her as he licked his lips with excitement. "Don't worry about the girl, I'm the one you be paying attention to."

The man looked back at Gajeel, "Ah yes, the infamous Black Steel Gajeel. I have heard of your Iron Dragon Slayer magic, but unfortunately it won't work against me."

Gajeel only smirked harder, "Ha-ha you're a cocky bastard aren't ya? What's your name? I like to know the name of guys I put on the ground."

"Not that you be around much longer to remember it, but I am called Holgrim. My brother Jordia & I are Master Romero's most trusted subordinates. Which means that you both will die right here."

"Sorry pal, but we have a job to do and we ain't leaving here till we finish it." Gajeel said confidently, filling Levy with confidence. He then whispered to her, keeping his eyes on his opponent. "Look, I need you find out what kinda magic this guy uses while I'm fighting him. Think you can handle that?"

"Yes, I can do that."

"Good." He then spoke to his adversary, "You ready to fight tough guy?" Gajeel began to get even more excited, he could sense how strong his opponent was and he was itching to fight.

"Raaagghhhh!" Gajeel advanced rapidly towards Holgrim.

…

Lucy, Wendy, Happy, & Carla made their way to the crossroads where their two sites were located and they had one last small talk before they split up.

"Ready to do this?" Lucy asked smiling at Wendy.

Wendy nodded and smiled back, "Yes I am. We have to save this town."

"Alright, that's what I like to hear. Well we're going to the left, come on Happy."

"Aye!" the cat answered determined as the two raced off.

Wendy watched the two run towards their site before looking at Carla. "Let's head out too Carla."

The white cat nodded as her and Wendy raced to their site."

Lucy & Happy ended up in the downtown shopping area, which was swarming with at least 100 members of Night Shade. Lucy's face grew nervous. Just my luck that my site filled with goons. She sighed as she pulled out one of her celestial keys. The Night Shade members laughed at her.

"Aw look, looks like this pretty girl got lost." One of them said as they walked closer to her

"You need help girlie? I could show you a good time."

The cat calls continued to come as Lucy waved her arm around, key in hand.

"Open, Gate of the Lion! Leo!" the ground began to glow as a portal to the celestial world opened up. Out of the portal stepped, Loke; the Lion celestial spirit and also a member of Fairy Tail. He stared down the goons as he began to speak.

"You rang Lucy my dear?"

"Yeah, I need you to help me take these guys down so we can destroy that site." She pointed the machine behind all of their enemies where the spell was being generated from. Loke cracked his knuckles and took a fight stance.

"Anything for you Lucy."

Lucy smirked and pulled out the whip she kept at her waist. "Happy stay back, Loke and I will be done in a flash."

"Aye! Be careful you guys."

"Let's go." She told Loke as they ran into the huge group.

Wendy arrived at her sight on the other side of the bridge and made quick work of the men guarding it. However as she moved to destroy the site she heard a yawn and quickly stepped back as a woman stepped from behind it. She had shoulder length wine red hair, it was very messy. She wore a set of pants but one of the legs was cut off just under her knee, she wore a tight black shirt with her guilds symbol on the front as she stretched and yawned again.

"You guys are so noisy, you ruined my nap." She said tiredly as she looked around at her guild mates all of them knocked out. "What happened to you guys?" she walked over to one of her downed comrades and poked his face. "Hey, wake up. What happened?" The look on her face was still tired so it didn't seem like she cared.

After watching her for a small while Wendy called out to her. "Um excuse me." The woman looked up her attention caught, "Are you part of Night Shade?"

"Yea I am." The woman answered lazily as she stood up and stretched again. "Did you do this?"

"Yes I did." Wendy slowly got into a fighting stance ready for the woman to attack. "I'd rather not fight you. So can't you just let me destroy the site so you can go back to sleep?" Wendy knew that asking her was fruitless but she had to try.

"Sorry, you're a cute kid and all but I can't let you do that. As much of a pain in the ass it is, my boss gave me a job so I gotta do it." She yawned again, "By the way what's your name?"

"Me?" Wendy asked slightly surprised, "My name's Wendy, I'm a wizard from Fairy Tail."

"Really a little girl like you is a wizard huh? Well, no matter. Name's Arana, nice to meet you."

"Oh, nice to meet you…"

Wendy looked back but the woman was gone.

"Wendy behind you!" Carla called.

Wendy turned around to see Arana swinging her leg at her, motioning for a kick to the face. Wendy moved to block, but felt the wind shift as Arana's leg moved, strike Wendy's ribs hard, cracking one.

"Ahh!" She called out in pain as she flew towards a nearby wall, she managed to use her magic to avoid the impact and she landed on her feet, she held her side in left side in pain.

Arana smirked weakly, "You're gonna have to be quicker than that if you want to beat me kid."

…

Natsu stood in front of the Casino doors and made his way inside. He was swarmed by hundreds of Night Shade members but ran through them all with his bare hands as he raced to the top. When he reached the double doors entering the final room, he found Romero standing in the back the site behind him.

"I see you weren't a coward after all Salamander. Too bad Titania was too afraid to face me again."

Natsu clenched his fist in anger. As Romero continued to insult Erza.

"Hahaha, the mighty Titania Erza is a coward; I knew it. She's nothing special, just a weak woman."

"SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!" suddenly Natsu's hand was engulfed in flames and he was instantly floating over Romero. The villain opened his eyes in shock. "Don't ever speak Erza's name again."

_The hell? When did he get so fast?_

BOOM!

…

* * *

**Well the battles to destroy the sites have begun. Let me know how the story is progressing so far. :)**


	14. Site Deconstruction

BAM!

"AGH!" Gray flew back after taking a hard punch to the stomach.

"Gray!" Juvia yelled as she struggled to get to her feet, she managed to catch him in a water net before he hit the ground. He reset himself on the ground and walked over to Juvia, holding his arm as the cut under his right eye bled. He pulled Juvia to her feet.

"You alright?" he said his breathing labored.

"Yes, I'm alright. I'm more worried about you."

He smirked, "Don't worry I've takin worse beatings fighting Natsu & Erza."

Juvia could see through Gray's facade. She could feel he was nearing his limit, she was as well. Their opponent was extremely strong, they could barely keep up despite landing a few hits here and there. _He can manipulate the ground underneath us, and he can also create shells for both attack and defense._ Juvia thought as she pondered a battle strategy. _There has to be a weakness somewhere that we can exploit._

"Is that really the best you guys can do? I'm barely breaking a sweat over here." Jordia laughed as he mocked the two wizards.

"Juvia." Gray said as he kept his attention on Jordia.

"I think I have an idea how to beat this guy. Do you trust me?"

Juvia nodded and smiled without hesitation, "Always."

He smiled weakly, "Good. Alright here's what we're going to do." He began to whisper the plan in her ear as Jordia watched them.

What are those two talking about? Well whatever it is I won't let them finish.

BAM!

He stomped his foot into the ground, covering it in rocks as he raced towards Gray & Juvia. Gray saw Jordia racing towards them and signaled Juvia to start their plan.

"NOW!" He yelled as Juvia moved behind him.

"Goodbye!" Jordia said with a malicious smile as he moved his armored leg for a mighty kick that would surely have ended Gray.

"Ice Make Shell!" Gray slammed his hands together just before the impact, and created a shield to protect himself.

BAM! Jordia's kick was strong enough to break Gray's shield and send him flying back. Soon Jordia was standing over him, about to land the final blow, but he noticed something before he could go through it. "Wait, where did that girl go?" he asked as he looked around confused.

Gray simply smirked as he looked into the air. Jordia's eyes followed his lead and there they saw Juvia hovering above them.

"Water Slicer!" a salvo of scythe like blades made of water fell to the Earth at incredible speed.

"What?!" His eyes opened in shock as he moved the rocks on the legs to his arm in order to shield himself. He wasn't fast enough however as one of the blades managed to slice his arm, breaking his concentration.

"Agh Damn You!" He roared in pain as he looked up at Juvia, "You'll pay for that!" When he looked down at the ground he noticed Gray was back to his feet.

His eyes opened in shock as Gray drew his fist back and smirked at him. "Looks like this is the end."

POW!

"Aggghh!"

With a hard left fist, that seemed to cause Jordia's face to warp, the evil wizard flew several feet back. He crashed into the site, destroying it.

Gray stood there, breathing heavily as he smirked. "Well that took longer than I thought." Weak from his injuries he fell to his knees.

Juvia rushed to his side, "Oh my Gray are you ok?" she asked concerned

He looked at her and continued to smirk, "Yeah, I'll be alright. You did great Juvia, I'm glad you came with me."

Juvia's face grew bright red as she heard Gray's words. Overflowing with emotion she kissed him on the cheek, this startled Gray.

"Ah! What…what are you doing?" He asked slightly blushing. Juvia smiled back at him, "I'm just glad you're ok."

"Oh, well alright then I guess." They both looked into the sky, "Let's hope everyone else was able to destroy their sites."

…

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Gajeel and Holgrim's blades clashed as they squared off over the fate of the site. Gajeel smirked as his Iron Dragon Sword grinded against Holgrim's concrete blade.

"You're tougher than I thought. But I'm still gonna beat ya."

"I see have you have already forgotten my magical abilities Black Steel, I can absorb the properties of whatever I touch." He demonstrated his power by absorbing the Iron of Gajeel's blade, turning himself into steel. He then drew his steel arm back and struck Gajeel in the face.

"Gah!" Gajeel yelled out in pain as he flew out of the alley into the street. "Gajeel!" Levy yelled in concern as she ran to him. As he stood him up on his feet, she looked up to see Holgrim bearing down on them, ready to deliver a fatal blow.

Thinking quickly, Levy waved her index finger in the air. "Solid Script: Storm!" Suddenly a strong gust of wind directed itself at Holgrim, while not pushing him back it distracted him long enough for Gajeel to regain his composure.

"Iron Dragon Club!" Gajeel's right arm turned into a metal club. He moved his arm to attack and the club extended towards Holgrim.

POW!

The club struck his face with bone crushing force, sending him into a nearby building.

Gajeel was panting heavily. "Are you ok?" Levy asked still holding him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Is it over?" she asked anxiously

"No that guy is stronger than that. A small attack like that one won't keep him down for long." He then looked at his injuries and then his right fist, clenching it tightly. "I need some iron, I barely had enough in me for that last attack."

Levy looked around, but she saw no iron. She pondered on where she could find some before Holgrim, got back up. _Where am I going to find some iron?_ She looked over to the hole Holgrim was lying in, he began to stir. _I don't have much time, I need to help Gajeel, but how?_ Suddenly her eyes widened as an Idea came to mind. _That's right, of course! Maybe I can use my magic. _

"Hurry up girl." Gajeel said irritably, "He's getting up."

Realizing she had no more time to worry about what ifs, Levy waved her right and left index fingers in the air. "Solid Script: Iron"

POOF!

A floating word saying IRON appeared before Gajeel. "What is this?" he asked confused. "Just hurry and eat it!" Levy yelled nervously, "He's almost awake" she pointed to the hole in the building as Holgrim began to stand up.

He rubbed his shoulders and cracked his neck as he stared down the two wizards, his body now made of the building he collided with.

"That was a fortunate shot for you two. Even after I absorbed the properties of that building, that attack still did a fair amount of damage." His eyes widened in shock as he felt an incredible power forming in front of him.

He saw Gajeel standing in front of, his power completely restored.

"What how is that possible? You were on your last legs." He said in disbelief.

Gajeel smirked at the stunned Holgrim. He then began to gather his magical power, "Iron Dragon's Scales" he said slyly as his body began to be covered in Iron.

"Heh, you aren't the only one who can transform."

Holgrim stood across from then gritting his teeth in frustration, his eyes then widened again when he noticed a piece of the brick falling from his face, revealing his skin underneath it.

Dammit, my form isn't holding. I don't have much power left, but I can't let these two beat me for the sake of Master Romero.

Gajeel noticed his problem and started laughing. "Looks like you don't have much power left. Guess I'll end this quick and destroy that site."

They rushed towards each other, both of them extending their right arms for what would be the decisive blow of the fight.

Levy stood behind and held her hand to her chest as they clashed.

BOOM!

Gajeel's fist was the one to connect, as the shell cracked, Holgrim flew into several buildings before stopping and falling unconscious. Gajeel smiled reveling in his victory as he turned back to Levy. "You wanna do the honors?" he asked pointing to the magic site.

She smiled and nodded. "Sure." She gathered her energy and waved her fingers around. "Solid Script: Fire!" a word clad in blue flames saying FIRE made its way to the site, destroying it. Gajeel reverted back to his regular form and walked over to Levy, putting his hand on her head and smirking. "Good job, shrimp."

She blushed and looked away from him. "Thanks, you did good too."

…

With all of their enemies defeated and their site destroyed, Lucy & Happy had some time to rest.

Lucy sat down and breathed a sigh of relief as she called Loke back to the celestial world. They smiled at each other as she promised she would release him when they returned home so he could see everyone.

"Phew." She sighed as Happy flew over to her.

"You alright Lucy?" he asked as his wings disappeared and he landed feet first on the ground.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired." She leaned back, bracing herself by putting her arms behind her as she looked at the destroyed site. "That was easier than I thought. I wonder how the others are doing."

BOOM!

The two turned their heads quickly as the saw dust rising from downtown.

"What was that?" Happy asked frightened.

"I don't know, but that's where Wendy ran off to." Lucy stood up although she was still worn out. "Come on Happy, we have to see if she's alright."

"Aye!"

Lucy pushed her body to run while Happy flew above her.

…

"Agh!" Wendy once again found herself on the defensive, as she & Carla ran through downtown_. I have to think of a counterattack, otherwise I'm done for. _They found a wall to hide behind as Wendy held her left arm, it was badly bruised from the damage she sustained.

"Wendy are you alright?" Carla asked concerned

Wendy looked at her with a fake smile trying to reassure her. "Don't…ngh." She winced in pain, "Don't worry Carla it's not that bad."

As Wendy peeked around the corner she saw Arana walking towards her direction, the red haired woman scratching her head as she yawned.

"Come on kid, you can't hide forever. How about you just give up? I really don't wanna kill ya."

RUMBLE! She kicked a wall with such force that it crumbled as she looked behind it. Seeing her opponent wasn't there she kept walking through the deserted area.

"What are we going to do Wendy? At this rate she will find us."

"I know, but I don't have much energy left. She's really strong."

She noticed Arana closing in on her & Carla and froze up. _Oh no she's closing in, what do we do? _Just then a hole in the ground appeared next to them. Out popped Virgo.

"Hello there Mistress Wendy." She bowed humbly as she motioned her hands to the hole she made.

"V…Virgo?" Wendy asked surprised, "Where did you come from?"

"My mistress asked for me to find you."

"Lucy's here?" a look of hope moved across her face, some backup was just what she needed, she smiled.

"Where is she?"

"Just follow me and I shall take you to her." Virgo then jumped into the hole, Wendy & Carla following behind her.

Just as they departed the building Wendy was standing behind was destroyed by Arana.

"Tch, not this one either." She turned around and walked back the way she came.

Wendy & Carla followed Virgo to the other end of the hole where Lucy & Happy were waiting. The girls hugged one another happy that the other was alive. Happy moved to hug Carla, but she brushed him to the side, although she did smile softly.

"I'm so glad you showed up when you did Lucy." Wendy said a smile on her face. "This woman is strong."

"How so?"

"Well from what Carla told me, she uses teleportation magic, but she is also insanely strong. She almost doesn't need to use her magic."

Lucy smiled at her, "Well don't worry." She reassured her, "With me here she doesn't stand a chance."

Wendy nodded in agreement, her eyes regaining their fire as the two turned their attention to Arana who was walking towards them.

…

In the casino Natsu found himself in the clutches of Romero, both of them were bruised and battered, but Natsu had clearly suffered the worst of it. Romero smirked as he gripped tighter on Natsu's throat, choking him.

"Agh! Let. Me. Go. You…bastard." Natsu protested as struggled in Romero's vice grip. _Man, this guy is really strong, how am I going to beat him?_

Romero smiled and laughed maliciously, "You thought you could beat me Salamander? How did you think you would fare better than Titania?"

"Shut…up." Natsu said weakly

He tried to attack but his attacks were so weak they had no affect at all. He could feel his consciousness fading as he continued to struggle.

POW!

"Pwah!" Natsu felt a hard fist strike his stomach and he coughed up blood as his struggling ceased. Romero drew back his fist again, this time for the finishing blow, but then the unthinkable happened.

FWISH!

A sword whizzed past the two men, slicing Romero's cheek, causing him to drop Natsu as the blade destroyed the magic site behind them.

Romero's eyes filled with rage as he looked to the door.

"Who the hell did that?!" he asked in a frightening tone.

The dust settled, and in the doorway…

Stood Erza Scarlet, a renewed sense of resolve in her eyes.

…

* * *

**.I wanted to give each of the fights their own share of the spotlight in this chapter. I will also be adding a new character to the guild after this story so be on the look out for that lol. let me know your guys thoughts. :)**


	15. Endings & Beginnings

Wendy & Lucy were doing all they could just to keep Arana at bay, but it wasn't enough. She shrugged off most of their attacks, her last one destroying another building. Lucy, Virgo, Wendy, Happy, & Carla hid behind some of the rubble.

"What do we do?" Wendy asked as she peeked over their hiding spot.

"I'm not sure, this girl is really strong." Lucy looked at her keys and her eyes widened when she got to Scorpio. _That's right, maybe we can try that. _"Guys I have a plan." Everyone huddled around Lucy as she explained the strategy.

Arana once again stalked her opponents like a snake in a grass field, her patience wearing thin with each step.

"Man, you Fairy Tail wizards sure love to hide. Come out, I'm started to get mad."

BOOM!

She stomped her leg into the ground to show she was serious. Lucy looked around at her friends after she explained her plan. "Ready?" everyone else nodded in agreement. Happy & Carla flew from cover towards Arana, with Virgo following them underground.

The cats circled around Arana distracting her enough for Lucy & Wendy to get set.

"Rah, damn cats." Arana groaned as she swiped at the cats. She then looked forward to see Lucy & Wendy standing side by side, Lucy holding another one of her keys.

"Open Gate of the Scorpion, Scorpio!"

A celestial gate opened and from it emerged a man with two tone red & white hair and a huge scorpion tail. "You called Lucy?" He asked looking at Arana. "Yeah, get ready we're going to do a unison raid with Wendy."

Scorpio smirked, "Alright got ya." Scorpio set himself as he got down on all fours and gathered magical energy. Wendy was nervous at 1st since her & Lucy had only done a Unison once before she didn't know if it would work, but they had to destroy that site. So she inhaled all the air she could take.

"What are those two doing? The hell's a unison raid?" Arana scratched her head in confusion, but soon her eyes widened as she sensed the strong magical energy coming from them.

"Now!" Lucy yelled as Happy & Carla flew back towards them.

"Sand Buster!" Scorpio yelled as a huge gust of sand hurled itself towards Arana.

"Sky Dragon ROAR!" Wendy yelled as a whirlwind emerged from her mouth, combining with Scorpio's attack, creating a mighty attack of both sand and air.

Arana smirked. Doesn't matter how strong the attack ill just teleport and…

She found her left foot sinking into a hole, breaking her concentration. She tried to reset herself, but it was too late; the attack had already reached her.

FWOOM!

"AGGHHH!" she screamed in pain as she flew in the air.

BOOM!

She came crashing down, defeated. Wendy & Lucy hugged one another, reveling in the fruits of their victory. Virgo reappeared before the girls and Scorpio. She bowed before them, "Your plan went off without a hitch mistress."

She looked at her spirits and smiled at them, "I couldn't have done it without you guy's. Thank you."

"No thanks necessary mistress." Virgo reassured her.

"Yeah, it wasn't a problem." Scorpio commented.

They waved goodbye to the two girls as Lucy closed their gates. She then collapsed to her knees.

"Are you ok Lucy?" Wendy asked concerned. "Lucy smiled at her softly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just summoning three spirits like that today really took it out of me."

Happy & Carla made their way to the girls both of them happy that they were alright. "We destroyed the site while you two were finishing her off." Happy said with a smile.

Lucy looked relieved as she made her way to her feet. "Well let's head back to the others. I'm sure they destroyed their sites. All that's left now is to wait for Natsu."

Everyone nodded as they walked from the destroyed remains of downtown. However Wendy turned around and walked back to the battle are.

"Where are you going Wendy?" Carla asked.

"Oh…I forgot something." She said with a smile, "I'll catch up to you guys."

"Ok, but hurry along." Carla turned around and continued to walk.

Wendy ran through the downtown area until she came upon Arana, lying on the ground, unable to move. She turned her head to Wendt as the young girl kneeled beside her.

"You come to finish me off?" she asked mockingly.

Wendy out stretched her hands over her fallen enemy and began to heal her.

Arana's eyes opened in surprise, "What are you doing?" she asked in genuine confusion but she was also touched in a way.

"Even though we may have been enemies for a little while, I can tell you aren't a bad person." Wendy said as continued to heal her. "I don't know what is going to happen after my friends & I leave here, but I hope that I will maybe see you again." Wendy's soft smile warmed the fallen wizard's heart, as she looked into the sky.

She thought of a small girl similar to Wendy, had to be ages since she last saw her. Running, laughing, and playing in a field while two figures watched them from a tree, their faces were obscured by the sunlight, but Arana knew they were her parents. Tears began to stream down her face as she remembered them.

"What if I come after you & your friends?"

Wendy smiled again, "I don't believe you will do that." After the healing was finished she stood up and looked at Arana one last time. "Take care, I hope we see each other again." She ran off to rejoin her friends.

Arana simply laid there and looked into the sky. _She's just like they said she would be… _She thought to herself as she placed her hands behind her head, "You know, I don't even feel like going back to sleep."

…

Erza approached Romero and Natsu, her sword still pointed at the evil guild master, as she pulled Natsu to his feet.

"Erza what are you doing here?" Natsu asked angrily, "You're supposed to be resting."

"I couldn't let you face him alone Natsu."

"But you need to…"

"I need to be here, with you, by your side remember our promise."

Natsu's eyes widened as he thought of the promise the two made to each other, and he relented as he stood on his own feet. "Fine." He said smirking, "But let me do most of the fighting, you still need to heal."

"I can live with that." She said smiling softly.

Romero laughed, "What's this? Seems like you aren't the coward I thought you were Titania. Should be interesting to see if you and Salamander can best me…but I doubt it."

Erza re-quipped into her Flame empress armor as she and Natsu charged Romero.

FWISH! FWISH! FWOOM! DODGE! SLASH! DODGE!

A flurry of swordplay, fire, and air filled the atmosphere as the battle between the 3 wizards raged on. Natsu & Erza were in near perfect and Romero could barely keep up. Damn, I wasn't expecting them to be so strong.

"Raaaagghhh!" Natsu moved in with a punch but Romero jumped into the air, dodging it. He looked down at Natsu, who smirked at him. What is he smiling about? Wait. Where's Titania? He scored the ground but couldn't find her

"Haaaa!" he looked up to see Erza slashing at him. "Agh!" he groaned in pain as he flew back down to the ground.

Erza floated back down to Natsu, as they watched the dust settle. Romero stood up, wiping the blood from his mouth and smirked maliciously. He said no words, and simply motioned the two to rush him.

They abided and rushed him again, but something went wrong. Erza tripped up just before they reached him due to her previous injuries.

"Erza! Ooooff!" Natsu called to her and Romero used the distraction to land a blow to Natsu's face. Sending him back towards the opposite wall.

"N…Natsu!" Erza yelled still wincing from the pain. Romero grabbed her by the air and held her in the air.

"Ahhh!" she screamed in pain. "I guess you weren't brave at all Titania, just stupid."

"Let her go!" Natsu raced towards Romero but was caught by the villain's big boot as he stood on his chest, keeping him in place as he continued to hold Erza in the air.

"You should be honored Salamander, you get to see me use my most powerful attack…to destroy Titania!"

"No! Erza!"

Romero through her into the air and gathered his power into his hands. The air began to swell around them as it turned dark.

"Devastation." He said coldly as he directed to black air towards Erza who was helplessly floating in the air.

"Erzaaaa!" Natsu screamed in desperation as flames began to surround his body, burning Romero. This caused his foot to move from Natsu, as the boy leapt into the air and grabbed Erza seconds before the attack connected.

BOOM! It had hit him instead as he cradled Erza in his arms.

"Agh!" he yelled in pain as the two fell to the ground.

"Agh, Dammit!" Romero screamed as the fire dissipated

Erza weakly opened her eyes to see Natsu holding her in his arms, but he was hurt bad.

"Natsu, why did you do that?!"

"I made…a promise…and I'm not gonna break it."

Her eyes opened in shock, and she blushed as she smiled softly. "You idiot, you could have died. Here"

A huge flame engulfed Erza's hand as she moved it towards Natsu's mouth. He opened his mouth weakly and ate the fire. It was warm and loving, it filled his entire being with energy. He had never felt anything like it. He stood up and held Erza up next to him. "You ready to finish this?" he asked her.

"Yes, let's finish this."

Before Romero could reset himself, Natsu and Erza were upon him.

"Raggh!" Natsu let out mighty roar and he punched Romero who barely had time to block.

"Dammit!" his eyes opened as he saw Natsu jump back and Erza coming from under him, slashing her sword upward.

SLASH!

A cut appeared diagonally across Romero's chest. The force of the hit forcing him against the wall.

CRASH!

"Gah!" he gasped for air as he hit the wall.

Natsu & Erza pressed on with the attack, Erza dropping her sword as they rushed Romero.

His eyes opened in shock, he knew it was over he had lost.

"HAAAA!"

"KYAAAA!"

Natsu & Erza unleashed a flurry of punches, each of them faster and stronger than the last. Every hit they landed, made a bigger and bigger imprint in the wall.

They drew back their arms for the final blow, but Erza collapsed to her knees from her injuries again. She looked at Natsu and smiled, giving him the sign she was alright as he smiled back at her. His hand was immersed in flames.

"Fire Dragon…" Romero was too dazed to counter as Natsu's fist drew closer. "Iron FIIIISSST!"

POW! CRASH!

The force of the blow was so strong that it sent Romero through the wall and his body landed all the way in the town square. He twitched on the ground, unable to move as the people in the square stared before rejoicing. Their town had been freed at last.

Natsu collapsed to his knees, and gave Erza a thumbs up, but they had little time to relax as the Casino was coming down around them. "What do we do?" Erza asked nervously as the bricks began to collapse. Natsu grabbed her and carried her on his back.

He then jumped out of the hole Romero made.

Erza nearly choked Natsu in fright as they fell to the ground. "Natsuuuuu!"

Lucy & Wendy had found the others and they all made their way to the casino to get Natsu. They all saw it crumble to the ground. The girls had a look of disbelief on their faces, as Gray shook his head. "Great now that is going to come out of money we earned, that idiot."

Gajeel laughed, "Leave it to Salamander to cause damage like that."

"Aye, that's Natsu for ya."

Wendy stopped looking at the Casino to see a figure falling from the sky.

"What's that?" she asked her friends as they all turned their heads to look.

Levy squinted her eyes to focus. "That looks like…" her eyes widened in fright. "Natsu & Erza!"

"What is Erza doing there?" Gray asked in disbelief.

"Their falling fast!" Lucy screamed frightened

"I'll get them." Juvia announced as she stretched her hand out. "Water Lock." She yelled as a water bubbled engulfed the two wizards. She then brought her toward the others and released it.

Natsu sat on the ground, Erza nearly passed out from fright and smiled at his friends. "Hey guys what took you so long?"

"Ow!" Lucy struck him in the back of the head.

"Don't make that face idiot, you could have killed Erza!" she pointed at the downed Erza who was dazed.

"Don't worry…I'm fiiiine." She said weakly.

"So I guess you beat him." Gray stated

"What are you talking about? Of course I beat him."

Gray smirked and helped his friends up. Basking in a job well done. The group made their way back to the hotel, all of them satisfied that Lumina had been saved.

…

A day or two later, everyone was all packed up and ready to head back to Magnolia. As a reward for saving the two, the mayor tripled the reward, but due to the damages, they lost about 3 million of the money. Then the girls spent a part of their share to go shopping, while Natsu & happy spent it on food. Satisfied with the memories they created, the group made their way out of the door; but someone was waiting outside for them.

"Took you guys long enough." The person stood up as the group faced them. Lucy's eyes opened as she got into a fighting pose. Wendy on the other hand smiled.

"Arana!" she smiled happily.

"Who is this person Lucy?" Erza asked turning to her, "She looks familiar."

"She's the wizard Wendy & I fought. Careful she's strong."

"No wait." Wendy stood in front of everyone, "She's really not a bad person I promise."

'Well then why did she join Night Shade?" Gray asked her.

"Hey, we all gotta make a living somehow." Arana answered lazily.

'Why are you here?" Erza asked sternly.

"Well you guys kinda destroyed my guild, so I have nowhere to go. So I was thinking, maybe I could join you guys in Fairy Tail."

"What?" Gray said angrily, "You gotta be kidding me."

"I don't mind." Erza stated

Gray almost fell over in disbelief. "What? Erza you can't be serious."

"Why not?" Natsu added, "Gajeel & Juvia were our enemies at one point." He made his case as he pointed to them. Gray looked at the two and relented. "Fine. She can come along, but I'll be watching you."

She looked Gray up and down with a mischievous smile, "Oh, I hope so."

Juvia's face grew red with anger, "Stay away from my Gray." She said in a low, but frightening tone.

"Ok, ok calm down." She smiled at Juvia.

Natsu outstretched his hand towards the girl. Welcome to the guild. Arana looked at his face and blushed slightly. She shook his hand, "Th…thank you." She then joined them as they headed back to Magnolia.

…

3 days later the group had returned to Fairy Tail, everyone hailing their return.

They all went their separate ways inside the guild as Natsu & Erza brought Arana to the bar, to talk to Mirajane.

The beautiful barmaid turned around and smiled at her friends. "Welcome back, how was the mission?"

"It was pretty difficult, but we managed to pull it off." Erza said confidently

"That's good to hear." She then looked at the girl standing between her friends. "And who is this?"

"This is Arana, we met her in Lumina. She was part of the guild that took over the town, she wants to be the newest member of Fairy Tail."

Arana blushed and bowed nervously, "Uh…how are you? Thanks for having me."

Mira smiled at her, "it's no trouble. We're always happy to have new members."

Mira pulled out the guild stamp and placed the guild symbol on the girl's right shoulder, signifying her as a member of the guild.

"Congratulations." Erza said as she patted the girl on the back.

"Yea." Natsu smiled, "Nice to have someone like you here Anna."

"It's Arana." She said correcting him, "but thanks you guys."

Erza looked up stairs and touched Natsu to get his attention.

"Natsu I'm going to stand on the balcony, would you like to join me?"

"Uh…yea sure." The two began to walk upstairs as Arana watched them, clutching her guild mark.

"Something wrong?" Mira asked.

"Oh, no it's nothing. You guys got any beer to drink?"

Mira laughed softly, "I think you will get around just fine in Fairy Tail."

Erza & Natsu stood on the balcony out looking Magnolia. Erza's long red hair looked weightless as the breeze swept through her hair.

"Natsu, I've been thinking."

"Huh? Thinking about what?"

"We've been running ourselves ragged lately. Mission after mission with little break starts to take its toll on the body. You've been hurt, I've been hurt; and it's starting to wear on me."

"What are you saying Erza?"

There was a few moments of silence as Erza looked into the sky.

"I've been thinking about it ever since we left Lumina and…I'm going to leave the guild for a little while."

Natsu stood in shocked silence, he didn't know what to think or say; but words of disbelief forced themselves out.

"What are you talking about Erza? You can't leave…" He began to protest but Erza put her finger over his mouth, silencing him.

"You didn't let me finish." She turned to him as she spoke her next words…

The brief seconds of silence felt like an eternity before Erza uttered her words.

"I want you to come with me."

...

* * *

**Well here is the final part of "The Next Step" I hope you guys enjoyed it. The story will split into 2 parts, one focusing on Natsu & Erza, and the other one will focus on Arana and the rest of the guild. I will also be combining this "Promise", & "Warmed Blade" into one complete story for people who don't feel like clicking onto the different stories so they can get the complete story in one place lol. So be on the look out for the next two tales, I will be starting them soon. Thanks :)**


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